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OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 

Growth of the 
Kingdom of God 



By 

SIDNEY L. GULICK, D. D. 

Missionary of the A. B. C. F. M. in Japan, Author 

of, "The Growth of the Kingdom," "The 

Evolution of the Japanese," and 

"The White Peril in the 

Far East" 

AND 

EDWARD L. GULICK, M. A. 



* 




Efy Jftlgrim Prcaa 

BOSTON CHICAGO 



&\ 






Copyright, iqio 

BY 

Luther H. Cary 



©CI.A265588 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



FOREWORD 

There is nothing more striking in the history of the 
world than the indisputable fact that the Kingdom 
founded by Jesus has lasted through the centuries and is 
now still spreading over the earth. Since his day, em- 
pires have risen and fallen, philosophies have waxed and 
waned, sciences have totally changed. The Kingdom 
founded by Jesus is the only institution that has success- 
fully bridged the flood of years. 

Like every living thing, it has made for itself a body, 
has developed an organization; and, like every living 
thing, that organized body has been conditioned or modi- 
fied by its surroundings, its environment. 

Without asking now how truly modern Christianity 
contains or represents the teaching of Jesus, if we only 
inquire how widely the mere name of Jesus is reverenced, 
and how many peoples profess to be Christian, we come 
upon an astonishing fact. Christianity is to-day the ac- 
cepted and only religion of all the leading nations of the 
world. Not only are England and the United States 
Christian, but every country of Europe, and of North and 
South America. Churches bearing the name of Christ 
and the symbol of his suffering exist by the hundred thou- 
sand. His professed followers are counted by the hun- 
dred million. Millions of persons who reject church or- 
ganizations and church creeds, still revere and love the 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



name of Jesus. Sacred and secular history alike date 
their events from that central fact, the birth of Jesus 
Christ. 

No Christian who would be intelligent can afford to be 
ignorant of the main steps by which this progress has 
been made. He should know the chief forms in which 
the Christian religion exists to-day, and the reasons why 
and how they have attained their present forms. 

To study the history of the influence of Christ on men 
only as it is given in the New Testament, as is commonly 
done, is as unreasonable as for a botanist to study the 
roots of a plant without considering the stem, leaves, 
flowers, and fruit for which the roots exist. So an in- 
telligent Christian ought to be able to judge whether and 
how far the churches as they exist to-day represent and 
correspond to the teachings of Jesus. Above all should 
the man who would be serious and earnest with himself 
and with Jesus ask himself the following questions: (i) 
Just what was the Kingdom founded by Jesus? (2) Does 
that Kingdom exist in the modern churches or denomina- 
tions? (3) Am I myself a true and faithful member of 
that Kingdom? 

It is the belief of the authors of these Outline Studies 
that, in spite of many appearances to the contrary in the 
past history of Christianity, and in the present conduct of 
so-called Christian nations, Christian churches, and of in- 
dividuals who call themselves Christian, the Kingdom es- 
tablished by Christ is still growing and will continue to 
grow till it has covered the earth. The purpose of these 
Studies is to point out some of the main steps in 
that growth in the past, and the main evidences of that 
growth in the present. 

In our survev of the growth of the kingdom of God, 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

it will be convenient to make five principal divisions as 
follows : 

I. Growth in Understanding. 

II. Growth in Numbers. 

III. Growth in Practise. 

IV. Growth in Influence. 
V. A General View. 



"Eighteen hundred years ago there lived, among a despised 
nation and in a remote country, a man by the name of Jesus, 
a carpenter's son, who had no political power, no social 
position, no secular learning or art, no wealth, no shelter to 
call his own, and who after a very brief public career was 
crucified in his youth by his own countrymen as an impos- 
tor and a blasphemer. Yet this humble Rabbi, by the force 
of his doctrine and example, without shedding a drop of 
blood, save his own, has silently accomplished the greatest 
moral revolution on record, founded the mightiest spiritual 
empire, and is now recognized and adored by the civilized 
nations of the globe as the Son of God and the Saviour of 
mankind." — 'Philip S chaff. 

Napoleon is reported to have used the following words 
about Christ: 

"Everything in him astonishes me. His spirit overawes 
me, and his will confounds me. Between him and whoever 
else in the world there is no possible term of comparison. 
He is truly a being by himself. His ideas and his sentiments, 
the truths which he announces, his manner of convincing, 
are not explained either by human organization or by the 
nature of things. . . . Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and 
myself founded empires. But on what did we rest the crea- 
tions of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded 
his empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would 
die for him." 

"Now here we see a young man but little more than thirty 
years old, with no advantage of position ; the son^ and com- 
panion of rude people ; born in a town whose inhabitants 
were wicked to a proverb; of a nation, above all others dis- 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



tinguished for their superstition, for national pride, exaltation 
of themselves, and contempt for all others; in an age of 
singular corruption, when the substance of religion had 
faded out from the minds of its anointed ministers, and sin 
had spread wide among a people turbulent, oppressed, and 
down-trodden. A man ridiculed for his lack of knowledge, 
in this nation of forms, of hypocritical priests and corrupt 
people, falls back on simple morality, simple religion; unites 
in himself the sublimest precepts and divinest practices, thus 
more than realizing the dream of prophets and sages; rises 
free from all prejudices of his age, nation, or sect; gives 
free range to the spirit of God in his breast; sets aside the 
law, sacred and time-honored as it was, its forms, its sacri- 
fices, its temple and its priests ; puts away the doctors of the 
law, subtle, learned, irrefragable, and pours out a doctrine 
beautiful as light, sublime as heaven, and true as God." — 
Theodore Parker. 

[Note. — These "Outlines" are based upon, and in the 
latter portions largely drawn from "The Growth of the 
Kingdom of God" by one of the present authors, published 
in 1897. The statistics given in them have been brought 
down to the latest feasible date. Many concrete illustra- 
tions of our discussion have necessarily been omitted from 
them which were given in that work. It is accordingly 
recommended as one of the books of reference.] 



OUTLINE OF COURSE 



LESSON PAGE 

I. The Seed and Its Early Growth i 

II. The Apostolic Period 7 

III. The Apostolic Period (Continued) 13 

IV. The Greek Period 19 

V. The Roman Period 27 

VI. The Period of the Reformation 37 

VII. Christian England 47 

VIII. The United States 57 

IX. General Review 69 

X. World-wide Christianity jy 

XI. Growth of Protestantism 85 

XII. Christianity a Moral Life 95 

XIII. Forms of Beneficence 103 

XIV. Forms of Beneficence (Continued) in 

XV. Forms of Beneficence (Concluded) 121 

XVI. Christianity a New Life of Service 131 

XVII. Christian Truth Generally and Widely 

Known 139 

XVIII. Christian Morality 149 

XIX. Philanthropy, Democracy and Liberty 161 

XX. The Work of the Public Conscience 171 

XXI. Influence of Christianity, the Sabbath, 

White Cross, etc 181 

XXII. Review 193 

XXIII. Significance of the Growth of the Kingdom 201 

XXIV. Problems and Prospects 211 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



LESSON I 

THE SEED AND ITS EARLY GROWTH 

Bibliography 

1. The Kingdom, by George Dana Boardman, 1899. 
Chapters 2-7. Scribner's. 

2. The Next Great Awakening, by Josiah Strong, 
1904. Chapters 3-6. Baker & Taylor Co. 

3. Kingdom of God, by J. Orr in Dictionary of the 
Bible, 1900. Vol. II. p. 844. 

4. The Teaching of Jesus in article, "J esus Christ," 
by W. Sanday, in Dictionary of the Bible, 1900. Vol. II. 
pp. 616-624. 

5. Kingdom of God, by G. H. Gilbert, in Dictionary of 
Christ and the Gospels, 1906. Vol. I. pp. 932-935. 

6. The Teaching of Jesus, by G. B. Stevens, 1901. 
Chapter 5. Macmillan. 

7. The Political and Social Significance of the Life 
and Teachings of Jesus, by J. W. Jenks, 1908. Y. M. 
C. A. Press. 

8. Studies in the Teaching of Jesus and his Apostles, 
by E. I. Bosworth, 1907. Y. M. C. A. Press. 

9. Christianity in the Modern World, by D. S. Cairns, 
Chapter 4. A. C. Armstrong. 

10. The Kingdom of God, by A. B. Bruce, 1896. Scrib- 
ner's. 

11. The Teaching of Jesus, by Robert Horton, 1897. 
Part I. Dodd, Mead & Co. 

I 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



12. Jesus' Way, by W. DeW. Hyde, 1902. Chapters 1-3. 
Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 

13. The Kingdom of God and the Church, by Geer- 
hardus Vos, 1903. American Tract Society. 

I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

1. Before studying the lesson try to state your idea of 
the Kingdom, and afterwards observe whether it has 
been modified or clarified. 

2. Look up all the references to the Gospels. 

3. Look out for any instances of misunderstanding of 
the nature of the Kingdom on the part of early Christians. 

4. Consult as far as possible the chapters referred to 
in the Bibliography. 

II. Lesson Outline. 

The distinction between seed and soil, germ and en- 
vironment. 

Christ's parables of the Kingdom. 

The Kingdom defined by the method of exclusion. 

The Kingdom defined positively. 

Jesus' teaching concerning himself. 

The earliest stage of the Kingdom. 

The first Christian communities, their names, theit 
significance. 

III. The Seed — The Teaching of Jesus. 

1. The growth of every living thing depends on two 
elements or factors : — ( 1 ) On the original life within it, 
the seed or germ, and (2) on the nature of the surround- 
ings or environment in which it lives and from which it 
draws its nourishment. In the case of the kingdom of 
God, the germinal seed is the teaching of Jesus. Of the 
two elements,, the seed is the more important. Life is the 

2 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

cause of the growth. Environment helps or hinders, turns 
in one direction or another, or it may even utterly destroy 
life. A hasty review of the teaching of Jesus — already 
taken in detail in the various courses of Sunday-school 
studies — is important in order that we may gather up 
and fix in mind the chief characteristics of those teach- 
ings so that we may bear them in mind throughout this 
study and see how they have been growing in the world. 

2. Read rapidly the parables illustrating the nature, 
value and methods of the Kingdom (John 18:36; Matt. 
13: 24-30, 44, 45, 46, 47-50; 11: 11, 12; 13: 31-33; Luke 
17: 20, 21). 

3. Negatively. In general we may say: Jesus did not 
teach that the Kingdom consists of a particular form of 
government, of church or state; that it covers any par- 
ticular territory; that it has any officers, army, code of 
laws, courts, or any of the organization or machinery of 
government. In contrast to the Jews of his time, prob- 
ably even to John the Baptist, and to his own disciples 
until after the resurrection, Jesus did not think of the 
Kingdom as temporal, or as coming into necessary op- 
position to the civil powers or governments; neither did 
he think of it as consisting of sacrifice, rituals, cere- 
monials, fastings or asceticism. 

4. Positively. To Jesus, the kingdom of God is wholly 
a matter of the heart (cf. Luke 17:20, 21) ; to enter the 
Kingdom repentance is necessary (Matt. 4:17; 18:3); 
the blessings of the Kingdom are spiritual and eternal, 
and may bring even much of temporal and earthly pain, 
persecution, conflict, loss and death (Matt. 16:24; Luke 
18 : 29 ; Luke 9 : 23 ; Matt. 5 : 29, 30 ; Luke 14 : 26) . 

The essence of the Kingdom is God's rule (Matt. 7: 21 ; 
12 : 50) ; which is not to be established by force of any 

3 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



kind, but by the free consent of the subject who comes to 
God in love (Matt. 4:3-11). Membership in the Kingdom 
shows itself outwardly in deeds of love and kindness 
(Matt. 5:43-48), in purity (Matt. 5:27-32), peacefulness, 
freedom from anger (Matt. 5:21-24), love of truth, de- 
votion to Jesus and his cause above every earthly cause 
or relation (Matt. 10:28-39). The righteousness of the 
Kingdom is not a matter of external conduct or appear- 
ances, but wholly of sincerity of heart (Matt. 5:20; 7: 
15-22). 

5. In addition to Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom 
he talked with his inner circle of disciples about himself: 
who he was (Matt. 16: 13-17), his relation to God (Matt. 
21:23-32), the meaning of his death (Matt. 20:20-28; 
26:26-28). 

Were we taking up in these studies the history of 
Christian doctrine, it would be important to con- 
sider more carefully this aspect of the truth taught by 
Jesus. For although the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and 
Luke, which give us the oldest records of the teachings 
of Jesus, report only a few conversations in which Jesus 
spoke directly about himself and about his relations to 
God, yet much is implied in his teaching about the King- 
dom, as much perhaps in his manner of teaching (Matt. 
7 : 29) as in what he actually said. Jesus is evidently con- 
scious of a unique authority which puts him by himself, 
above even Moses and Solomon (Matt. 12:42; 19:7-9). 

6. Such, in briefest outlines, is the kernel of truth 
planted by Jesus. The kingdom of God consists in God's 
fatherly sway over the hearts of his children, made mani- 
fest by their love both for him and their fellow men. 

7. In Sunday-school, classes have studied (1) the prep- 
arations for this Kingdom in the Old Testament times 

4 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

and the religious experiences of the Jews; (2) the teach- 
ings of Jesus himself in the Gospels, and (3) the very 
earliest stage of the foundation of this Kingdom in the 
Acts and the Epistles. In this last period we see a few 
scattered communities of those who have made Jesus their 
Master. The Book of Acts brings us down to a date not 
much later than thirty years after the death of Christ; 
more exactly to a period not long before the death of 
Paul (probably between 62 and 65 a. d.). 

8. The little communities of Christians were far sep- 
arated and without any political or other kind of earthly 
power, but full of a life which was destined to fill the 
world. The chief communities were hardly to be called 
churches in our sense of the word; they probably had no 
buildings, no New Testament, no regular ministry, no 
systematic organization, little ritual for worship, and 
probably almost nothing in the way of creeds or written 
confessions of faith. 

9. The number of the communities at the time of the 
end of the Acts and of Paul's letters is uncertain. We 
know the names of the towns and cities where the most 
important ones were located, namely, Jerusalem, Joppa, 
Antioch (Syria), Thessalonica, Philippi, Berea, Corinth, 
Rome, one or more in Galatia, Ephesus and vicinity, 
Smyrna, Colossae, Laodicea, Antioch (Asia Minor), Tco- 
nium, Lystra, Alexandria. 

So weak and insignificant was the Christian movement 
that the historians of Rome knew practically nothing of 
it. Josephus (about a. d. 95), Pliny the younger (a. d. 
113), and Tacitus (after a. d. 117) make only the slight- 
est allusion to it. In its effect on the world at the time 
of the close of the New Testament, Christianity was in- 
significant indeed. 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



IV. Resurvey. 

i. What are the two essential elements of life and 
growth ? 

2. In what does the germ of Christianity consist? 

3. Did Jesus write a book of theology, organize a 
church, establish a ritual, found a state? 

4. Where does the kingdom of God exist? 

5. What is its essence? 

6. What kind of righteousness does it require? 

7. What did Jesus say of himself, of his relation to 
God and of his death? 

8. What relation exists between the Acts and the Epis- 
tles? 

9. Describe the early Christian communities. 
10. Name and locate them. 

V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. What modern social or religious movements are in 
their seed stage? 

2. What advantage has the parabolic method of teach- 
ing? 

3. Are there any parts of present church organization 
and worship that are not essential to the Kingdom as 
explained by Christ? 

4. What has been the really vital thing that has pre- 
served the Church for nineteen centuries? 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



PART I 

GROWTH IN THE UNDERSTANDING 
OF CHRISTIANITY 

LESSON II 

THE APOSTOLIC PERIOD 

Bibliography 

i. History of the Christian Church, by George P. 
Fisher, 1902. Chapters 1-3. Scribner's. 

2. History of the Christian Church, by Philip Schaff, 
1891. Vol. I. Chapters 4, 5. Scribner's. 

3. The Apostolic Age, by A. C. McGiffert, 1897. 
Scribner's. 

4. The Church in the Roman Empire, by W. M. 
Ramsay, 1893. Part I. Putnam's Sons. 

5. The Essence of Christianity, by Adolf Harnack, 
1901. Chapters 9, 10. Williams & Nargate. 

6. The Apostolic Age, J. H. Ropes, 1906. Scribner's. 

7. Paul the Apostle, by Edward H. Hall, 1906. Little, 
Brown & Co. 

8. Paul the Apostle, by G. G. Findlay, in Dictionary 
of the Bible, 1900. Vol. III. pp. 696-733. 

9. Paul, by E. Hatch, in Encyclopedia Biblica, 1902. 
Vol. III. 

7 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



10. The First Interpreters of Jesus, 1901. By G. H. 
Gilbert, Macmillan. 

Christianity in the Apostolic Age, 1907. By G. H. 
Gilbert, University of Chicago Press. 

11. Studies in the Acts and Epistles, by E. I. Bosworth, 
1898. Y. M. C. A. Press. 

I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

1. Try to imagine how the apostles must have felt 
without their Master. 

2. In your reading and study seek for a clear idea of 
the difference between the teaching of Jesus and that 
of Paul and the Apostles. 

3. Before reading further in the lesson, try to think in 
what ways preparation for the spread of Christianity 
had been made. 

4. Try to find at least one of the books referred to in 
the Bibliography, either in your public library or in your 
pastor's study. 

II. Lesson Outline. 

The environment of the Christian seed. 
Means by which a favorable reception for the new faith 
was prepared beforehand. 

The first missionaries of the gospel. 

Paul's conception of Jesus, and the motives of his life. 

Christianity for the whole world. 

The most important thinker on Christianity. 

III. The First or Apostolic Period of the Christian 

Church (30-70 a. d.). 
1. The seed of the Kingdom, which, as we have 
seen, was the teaching of Jesus, was given to 

8 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

plain men of very limited experience and education. 
Fishermen were not then, as they are not apt to be now, 
scientists or philosophers. At that time the Jewish people 
were expecting a Messiah who should establish an earthly 
kingdom, driving out the hated Romans. There was no 
distinction in their minds between religion and politics. 
Thinking of their nation as a sacred people, they thought 
that all the concerns of that people were religious in 
their character. Their views, however, were not wholly 
in agreement. Different views were held by different 
parties, viz., Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and He- 
rodians. Already Greek ideas and practises were begin- 
ning to influence Jewish life and thought, as they had 
already influenced all lands bordering on the Mediter- 
ranean Sea. Those were troublous times, including the 
invasion of Palestine by the Romans, and ending with 
the overthrow of the Jewish people, the fearful destruc- 
tion of life at the downfall of Jerusalem in the year 70 
a. d., and the carrying to Rome of many captive Jews. 
The triumphal arch of Titus in Rome commemorates this 
conquest of Palestine. 

2. But even before the time of Christ, Jews had gone 
into foreign lands for various purposes, chiefly for trade. 
During the first period of Christian history, Jews were 
living in all the principal cities of Greek lands, and of 
Southern Europe and Northern Africa. These Jews of 
the diaspora or Dispersion, as they were called, had carried 
their monotheistic faith in one God with them wherever 
they went, had established synagogues, and had exercised 
much influence on the thought of the thinking Gentiles 
among whom they lived. This was a most important fact 
for the successful spreading of the Christian faith; for 
these synagogues in foreign lands were the centers to 

9 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



which Christian missionaries like Paul first went, and 
through which they gained access to Gentiles of the 
nobler sort. 

3. The Book of Acts, a continuation by the same au- 
thor of the Gospel according to Luke (written between 
70 and 80 a. d.), is the only connected account we have 
of this period. It shows us how plain fishermen and 
working men were transformed by the influence of Jesus 
and by the events which happened after his death, so 
that they became men of remarkable moral power, keen 
insight, and invincible conviction and courage. It is most 
surprising to note how they were able by their preaching 
to influence their fellow men. This book tells how the 
most remarkable man in Christian history was changed 
from a persecutor to a propagator of the faith, and gives 
a condensed account of his journeys among Greek and 
Latin speaking peoples, successfully establishing a large 
number of Christian communities in important centers 
of the Greco-Roman population. 

4. In the letters of Paul we have an inside view of 
the thoughts and motives which ruled his life. Next to 
Jesus, Paul has been the most important person in the es- 
tablishment and development of Christianity. Even more 
important than what Paul did in his missionary journeys 
was what he thought about the teachings of Jesus and 
especially about Jesus himself. That thought has become 
dominant in the Christian world. 

5. Peter and the other apostles had been led to see that 
the religion of Jesus was not to be the private possession 
of the Jews or of those Gentiles who accepted the Jewish 
religion, but that it was to be for all the world even if 
they did not accept the Jewish religion (Acts 10:9-16). 
But it was Paul who first seemed to appreciate the full 

10 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

meaning of the universality of Christianity. He preached 
it at home and abroad, giving his life to the great mis- 
sionary work. What Christianity would have been with- 
out Paul, it is impossible to say. Some go so far as to 
assert that Paul was the true creator of Christianity. 
And while we must think that this statement is an absurd 
exaggeration, we admit that it expresses an important 
truth, viz., that Paul takes a place of the highest impor- 
tance in the development of Christianity, not only in his 
own age but for every age. His writings are still of 
unsurpassed importance, and contain seed thoughts for 
many thinkers to-day, and profound inspiration to every 
earnest man in his aspiration for a life of moral truth and 
power. 

IV. Resurvey. 

i. To what sort of men were the teachings of Jesus 
first given? What influence did that fact have on the 
Bible and Christianity? 

2. What is meant by the diaspora (Dispersion), and 
what influence did it have on the spread of Christianity? 

3. What does the Book of Acts show concerning the 
work of the apostles? 

4. About whom does the latter part of the Acts give 
an account ? 

5. What was of more importance than the labors of 
Paul? 

6. What opinion led to the carrying of Christianity to 
the Gentiles ? 

7. What would Christianity have been without the work 
of Paul? 

8. What would it have been without his thought about 
Jesus ? 

11 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. Did Christianity suffer or gain from being committed 
to plain and uneducated men ? 

2. In what ways may persecution be of help to a new 
institution? 

3. Is Christianity a modified Judaism? 

4. Are new religions springing up in our day? Make 
comparisons and contrasts. 

5. Is Christianity likely to become the universal re- 
ligion? How soon? 

6. Did Paul add to the teachings of Jesus? Or did he 
teach anything contrary to those teachings? 



12 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



LESSON III 

THE APOSTOLIC PERIOD (Continued) 
Bibliography 
The same as for the preceding lesson. 

I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

i. Before beginning the study of this lesson, make a list 
of the doctrines that seem to you essential to Christianity. 

2. Also a list of the truths that form the body of the 
preaching you commonly hear. 

3. After studying the lesson, classify these doctrines 
as characteristic of the teachings of Jesus or Paul. 

II. Lesson Outline. 

The principal teachings of the apostles of Jesus. 

The social and spiritual bond that made the early 
church an efficient working body. 

The superior morality of the Christian life. 

The beginning of reflection on the relation between 
Christianity and Judaism. 

The Pauline thought about Jesus. 

A difference between the teaching of Paul and that of 
his Master. 

III. The Apostolic Age. 

1. What now are the chief characteristics of the Church 
in this first period after the death of Jesus ? 

13 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



(i) The simple, straightforward assertion of a few car- 
dinal points, like the following: (a) The crucifixion and 
resurrection of Jesus, of which the disciples had perfect 
assurance and conviction, (b) Jesus the Messiah, who in 
himself fulfilled both the law and the prophets, (c) Jesus 
as sitting at the right hand of God, i. e., as ruling the 
world with God: in other words, Jesus as Lord and God. 

(d) The speedy return of Jesus to judge the world and to 
establish his Kingdom on earth with glory and power. 

(e) Forgiveness of sin for those who repent and believe 
on Jesus as the Christ, (f) The continued presence and 
power of the Holy Spirit who changes the hearts of men 
and transforms them into true disciples. 

(2) The fellowship of the saints. Each disciple of 
Jesus felt himself in a new relation to his fellow men and 
especially to the other disciples who were in a peculiar 
sense brothers. This sense of fellowship broke down all 
barriers of rank, of education, of wealth, and even of 
race. A Roman writer ridiculed the Christians, saying 
that their Master had even persuaded them that all men 
are brothers. These little communities of disciples con- 
stituted the beginning of the Christian churches. Each 
member of the church had had an experience which made 
him feel conscious of possessing eternal life. 

(3) The earnest moral life of the disciples. Because 
of their high level of moral life they were called "saints." 
They actually tried to practise the moral precepts of 
Jesus; for example, love, not merely of the brethren, but 
also of those who persecuted them. They strenuously 
opposed the common immorality of the times, sensuality, 
drunkenness, evil words and evil thoughts. The superior- 
ity of the moral life of Christians was a source of wonder 
to the people of those times, and was a mighty power 

14 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

for commending Christianity to the world. Whenever 
Christians have become merely nominal Christians, their 
morality has dropped down toward the level of the moral- 
ity of the world at large. Genuine Christianity has always 
been characterized by a high moral life, and has invariably 
refused to accept the standards of the non-Christian world. 

2. In the letters of Paul we see that the early Chris- 
tians not only emphasized the simple facts as to the life 
and teachings of Jesus but they began to ask questions as 
to their profound meaning. 

So far as we know Paul was the man who thought most 
deeply and wrote most fully on these questions concern- 
ing the deeper meanings of Christ and his religion. The 
most important of these questions were these: What was 
the relation of Jesus to the law of Moses, to the Jewish 
ritual, and to the sacrificial system? To which questions, 
so natural to one who had been trained a Jew, the an- 
swer was : Jesus, as the Messiah, had fulfilled all the sym- 
bols and types and prophecies of the Old Testament, and 
had thus set them aside. In Jesus God provided a right- 
eousness apart from the law (see Romans). In Jesus 
the sacrificial and priestly system reached its perfect cul- 
mination, and consequently nothing further of that sort 
needed to be done (see Hebrews). 

But who was this Jesus in the deepest reality? Not 
merely the expected Messiah, was the reply, but far more. 
Jesus was in truth nothing less than God himself mani- 
fest in human form, who came to earth to bring to men 
a knowledge of the Father, to reconcile them to him and 
to give them power to become sons of God. (Phil. 2: 

5-») 

So far as we know these answers were made and held 
not only by Paul, but were accepted also by practically 

15 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



all Christians, though none stated them so fully as he. 
From the very first, worship was offered to the exalted 
Christ as to God. 

3. The important thing for us to remember is the as- 
tonishing fact that while Jesus taught principally about 
the kingdom of God, the first generation of his disciples 
said and wrote almost nothing about that Kingdom. Their 
thoughts and words were principally about Him. Not 
that they ignored what Jesus said about doing the will 
of God, of loving each other, etc., but they put into the 
forefront of all their teaching what Jesus had kept in the 
background, namely, devotion to his person. 

4. What are we to think of this change of emphasis? 
There are those who regard it as the first step in 
the departure from the teaching of Jesus, and hence 
a degeneration of genuine Christianity. But through 
all the ages the great majority of earnest Chris- 
tians have felt that although Christ did not say much 
concerning himself, yet he is in fact the center of all his 
teachings. He is the revelation of the Father. He is 
the founder of the Kingdom, the Way, the Truth and the 
Life. Only as his unique position is recognized and con- 
fessed by believers do they have the moral power and 
earnestness to practise his teachings in reference to the 
Kingdom. Exalting the person does not of necessity mean 
the forgetting or minimizing of his teaching as to the 
Kingdom. It should, indeed, have the opposite result. 

IV. Resurvey. 

1. What was the teaching of the apostles in reference 
to (a) the death, (b) the Messiahship, (c) the exalta- 
tion, (d) the judgeship of Jesus, (e) the forgiveness of 
sin, (f) the Holy Spirit? 

16 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

2. What was the bond that made the Christians one 
family ? 

3. What quality in their lives gave them power with 
the world ? 

4. What was their thought concerning the relation of 
Jesus to the law, ritual, and righteousness of the Old 
Testament ? 

5. What honor greater than that of being the Messiah 
was given to Jesus? 

6. How did the teaching of the apostles differ from 
the teaching of Christ? 

7. Were they necessarily wrong? 

V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. Which is more important, the life of Christ or 
the death of Christ? 

2. Why should the death of Christ occupy so prominent 
a place in the thought of the Jewish Christians ? 

3. If one were founding a society, what guidance could 
he derive from the early Christian Church ? 

4. Was the teaching of Paul an advance upon the 
teaching of Jesus, or a falling away from it? 

5. In our efforts to "get back to Christ," is it necessary 
or desirable to pass over the teachings of Paul? 



V 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



LESSON IV 

THE GREEK PERIOD 

Bibliography 

1. SchafFs History of the Christian Church. Vol. II. 

2. Fisher's History of the Christian Church. Period II. 

3. The Growth of the Kingdom of God, by Sidney L. 
Gulick. pp. 176-181. Revell Co. 

4. A Handbook of Church History, by S. G. Green. 
Part III. Revell Co. 

5. For biographical accounts of Origen and Athanasius, 
see McClintock and Strong's Cyclopedia; or the new 
Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. 

I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

1. When you get a new idea of an old subject can you 
wholly forget or put away the former ideas you had? 

2. Try to imagine what was likely to happen to the 
simple teaching of Jesus as it came into contact with the 
ideas of other men, especially of scholarly men of other 
races. 

II. Lesson Outline. 

The Church becomes increasingly Gentile. 
Its growth is vainly opposed. 

The Greek mind in contact with Christian facts seeks 
to explain them. 

19 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



Paul had been educated in Greek thought. 

The doctrine of the Logos. 

Creeds grew up to preserve the truth and to prevent 
heresies from spreading in the Church. 

Theology takes the place of the kingdom of God taught 
by Jesus. 

The Canon of the New Testament is established. 

III. The Second or Greek Period of the Christian 
Church. (70-400 a. d.) 

1. The environment. With the fall of Jerusalem the 
infant Christian churches lost their nursing mother. The 
scattered Christian communities, instead of receiving sup- 
port from the Jewish Christians began to feel the in- 
dependence of their own position, and of their faith, They 
became increasingly Gentile in membership, and were in 
consequence influenced more and more by Greek civiliza- 
tion and especially by Greek thought. All the earlier 
Church Fathers, as the leaders were called, were Greek; 
only from the middle of this period did Roman Christians 
become "Church Fathers." 

Until the emperor Constantine (337 a. d.) became Chris- 
tian, the followers of Jesus were the objects of re- 
peated persecution. Christianity was the religion of a 
small but slowly increasing minority. Despised and ridi- 
culed by the educated ; feared and often persecuted by the 
state, because of the refusal of Christians to worship the 
emperor of Rome; in competition with the polytheism of 
the masses, who had many forms of worship as well as 
many deities; in opposition to class and racial pride and 
prejudices so characteristic of all non-Christian peoples 
and ages; ignored by historians and philosophers, because 
of its recent origin, worship of a crucified malefactor, 

20 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

and its illogical doctrines; yet somehow, slowly at first, 
more rapidly as time passed on, Christianity made its tri- 
umphant way among slaves and men of humble rank, in- 
cluding from time to time men and women of rank and 
education. The Greek language, Greek modes of thought, 
and Greek philosophy dominated the thinkers of all lands 
bordering on the Mediterranean Sea. The Greek tem- 
perament and interests were intellectual; they were con- 
cerned with matters of thought, with rational explana- 
tions. Philosophy, science, mathematics, history, and art 
received their first high degree of development in Greece. 
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and many other ancient Greeks 
have won immortal places in human history because of 
the intrinsic value of their contributions to human wel- 
fare and the enrichment of human thought. It was, there- 
fore, inevitable that Christian thought should be influ- 
enced by the Greek mind. 

2. The most prominent characteristic of the Christian 
thought of this period is its strong tendency toward an ac- 
curate intellectual statement of its deepest ideas. We 
may call this age the speculative, or metaphysical, or 
theorizing age of Church history. When the facts of the 
life of Jesus and the experiences of Christians came to 
the knowledge of Greek thinkers, who themselves experi- 
enced the morally transforming power of the Christian 
religion, it was natural, and advisable, and necessary that 
they should take up again the old metaphysical problems 
with which they had formerly concerned themselves, and 
reconstruct their former thought and theory in the light 
of their new faith. In this way they worked over again 
their doctrines as to the real nature of being, of God, 
and of their relation to each other, and especially of 
God's relation to men. 

21 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



3. The beginning of this movement we see in the writ- 
ings of Paul who was a Jew of the Dispersion, and was 
reared in a Greek city famous as an educational center. 
In the Gospel of John we see the influence of Greek 
thought still more conspicuous, especially in the prologue 
and its doctrine of the Logos, or the Word. The Greek 
word Aoyos pi. Aoyoi had long been known to Greek 
thought; it was used to represent the intermediate being 
or beings between Absolute Being and Nature by which 
Nature had been fashioned and was still held in relation 
to the Absolute. The word Aoyos means not only 
"word," but also "thought," "reason," "conception," "ut- 
terance." But Aoyot were supposed by Greek thinkers 
to have real and independent existence, to be real and 
living mediators between the absolute being of God and 
the relative being of nature. It was most natural that 
the first uneducated Greek Christians who thought of Jesus 
as the unique manifestation of God to men should call him 
the Logos incarnate. But it was not to be expected that 
Greeks trained in philosophy would say the same thing. 
Yet such was the fact. A famous Church historian says 
that it is a striking testimony to the character and the 
powerful impression of the early Christian religion that 
philosophically trained Greeks should accept a man of so 
recent life, crucified as a malefactor, as indeed the Logos. 
This produced a profound change in Greek philosophy. 

4. We may distinguish two subdivisions of this period : 
(1) the earlier, when these ideas were merely gaining 
expression and making headway. In this period the later 
writings of the New Testament belong and the earlier 
writings of the Church Fathers; (2) the later, when they 
were beginning to be formulated into definite creeds. The 
great theological discussions of Christian history took 

22 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

place in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries. 
Christian thinkers were seeking to define accurately the 
true ideas as to the nature and relations of God, Christ, 
the Holy Spirit, and man. Thus were formulated or put 
into systematic shape, the great ecumenical creeds of the 
Church. 

5. One of the most important products of this period was 
the collection of those writings that had been found most 
valuable by Christians in the development of their own 
faith and life. These gradually came to be regarded as a 
standard for all Christians. When this collection was 
completed, it was established as authoritative, was called 
the Canon or rule, and has come down to us as the New 
Testament, having an authority equal to or even higher 
than that of the Old Testament. Thus has been preserved 
for the modern Church a book of extraordinary impor- 
tance for the religious life of the world — not only because 
it gives an account of the rise of Christianity, but be- 
cause it has the unique power of giving the serious and 
conscientious man a sense of the immediate presence 
of God and a feeling of God's actual work in his heart 
through the Holy Spirit. No other book can compare 
with the Bible in its power to lift a man out of his little- 
ness and introduce him to God and make him feel toward 
God as to a Father, and to feel himself a son. 

6. It was inevitable, in that time of intellectual turmoil, 
when men of all beliefs and of no beliefs entered the 
Christian Church, that all sorts of strange ideas should 
be proposed and insisted on as true Christianity. Though 
such ideas might contain some truth, yet they were com- 
monly one-sided. And as they came to be seen as one~ 
sided and dangerous, they were rejected as false and 
called heresies, i, e., as causing divisions. The zeal of the 

23 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



Church in expressing its faith in the exact terms of the 
creeds was due in part to the feeling that false teaching 
was dangerous to the faith and to the religious life of 
Christians; and so it was. Centuries of Christian ex- 
perience have shown that certain views of Christ's nature, 
of God, of man, and of the world, do destroy the vitality 
of Christian faith. Had these views prevailed, Christian- 
ity would have perished. 

7. But the influence of Greek thought upon Christianity 
was not wholly good. To it the Church owes its strong 
tendency to exalt correctness of belief above correctness 
of life, and even above love. Of course, this is not the 
teaching of Jesus. 

8. Noteworthy is the fact that in this period nothing 
is written about the kingdom of God. While Christian 
conduct is required of all Christians, the great interest 
of the Church is centered upon doctrine, about God, the 
Trinity, Christ, the Holy Spirit, etc. 

9. The two conspicuous men of this period are Origen 
(253 a. d.) and Athanasius (373 a. d.). 

IV. Resurvey. 

1. What influence had the destruction of Jerusalem 
upon Christian teaching? 

2. What various classes of people opposed or perse- 
cuted the Christians? Why? 

3. As "salvation is from the Jews," so explanation 
comes from what race? 

4. Mention three great names of Greek philosophers. 
How long did their influence last? When and where did 
they live? 

5. What did the Greek mind say about the Hebrew 
Saviour ? 

24 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

6. Where had Paul come under the influence of the 
Greek thought ? How did he show that influence ? 

7. What is meant by the doctrine of the Logos? In 
which Gospel is it taught? 

8. In what centuries were theological discussions prom- 
inent, creeds made, and the Canon completed ? 

9. What would have happened if heresies had not been 
excluded ? 

10. What was taught in this age about the kingdom 
of God? 

V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. With reference to the spreading of ideas, compare 
the destruction of Jerusalem in a. d. 70 with that of Con- 
stantinople in a. d. 1453. 

2. Were the Roman emperors afraid of Christianity? 
If not, why did they persecute the Christians? 

3. What elements of modern civilization do we owe 
to the Greeks? What to the Hebrews? 

4. Was Paul influenced more by Greek or by Hebrew 
thought ? 

5. Is this a theological age? If not, what is it? 

6. Would Christianity have been better off if it had 
never come under the influence of the Greek mind? 



25 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



LESSON V 

THE ROMAN PERIOD 

Bibliography 

1. SchafFs History, as before. Vols. Ill, IV, V. 

2. Fisher's History, as before. Periods III — VII. 

3. Harnack's Essence of Christianity. Chapters 12, 13 
and 14. 

4. For biographical accounts of Augustine, Hildebrand, 
Ahselm, Thomas a Kempis, Bernard of Clairvaux, con- 
sult the cyclopedias. 

5. Handbook of Church History, by S. G. Greene. 
Parts IV, V, and VI. 

6. Medieval Church History, by R. C. Trench, 1878. 
Scribner's. 

I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

1. Consider first how short is human life, and how fleet- 
ing are human words. 

2. Then consider what are the means by which men 
have sought to make their words permanent and to pro- 
long their influence. 

3. Consider how Jesus spoke his words without a re- 
porter. By what means have those words been preserved 
and made effective till the present? 

27 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



II. Lesson Outline. 
Superstition invades the Church. 
The fall of the Roman Empire. 
The survival of the Church. 

The Church falls heir to the power of Rome. 
The petrified Oriental churches. 

The Roman Catholic Church preserved Christianity for 
the world. 

Its doctrine, practise, and chief characteristics. 

III. The Third or Roman Period of the Christian 

Church (400-1400 a. d.) 

1. The environment. In the year 314 a. d. the em- 
peror Constantine adopted the Christian religion, and thus 
Christianity was not only tolerated, but also soon was 
recognized and established as the religion of the Roman 
Empire, and continued to be such with but one or two 
unimportant reactions. This act of Constantine's made 
Christianity popular; multitudes of semi-Christianized 
pagans flocked into the Church, bringing into it many of 
their superstitions and heathen practises, traces of which 
are not lacking to-day, especially in Roman Catholic 
countries. 

The Roman Empire grew gradually weaker and weaker, 
and finally, in the year 476 a. d., fell before the succes- 
sive attacks of brave, uncivilized races from the East and 
North. These were the Huns, the Goths, the Vandals, 
the Teutons, etc. Centuries of political upheaval and re- 
adjustment followed. The ancient civilization was tram- 
pled under foot and largely destroyed by the conquerors, 
who cared nothing for Greek philosophy, literature or 
art. Libraries and churches were ruthlessly burned. The 
Christian organization was the one institution that sur- 

28 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

vived the deluge. It set itself to Christianize the heathen, 
and thus in time it conquered the conquerors. Taking the 
new nations that developed in place of the Roman Empire, 
it made them into nations that claimed the Christian name 
and considered themselves truly Christian because they 
accepted the doctrines and practises taught by the au- 
thorities at Rome. 

During this long period of a thousand years, Moham- 
medans, Saracens, and Turks surged in from the East. 
They brought evil and calamity to the churches in the 
Orient, and only by means of tremendous efforts did Eu- 
rope escape from falling under their dominion. In this 
period occurred the great wars waged by Western Europe 
for the possession of the sacred tomb of Jesus in Pales- 
tine. These wars were known as the Crusades and ex- 
erted enormous political as well as religious and civ- 
ilizational influences on the nations of Europe themselves. 

Throughout this period, Latin was the language of 
scholars over all Western Europe, and all the ruling ideas 
were derived from Rome. The great scholars of the 
period are known as the Scholastics. Their aim was to 
make scholarship serve the Church and to defend its doc- 
trines. The authority of the Church was maintained, not 
only over doctrines and politics, but was also extended 
over the spheres of science and philosophy which do not 
really belong to religion. Indeed every phase of human 
life and welfare was thought to be subject to the control 
of the Church. 

2. The genius of the Roman race expressed itself in 
government, in organizing ability, just as the genius of the 
Jewish race lay in religion and the genius of the Greek in 
philosophy, science and art. Even though, after a thousand 
years of rule, the Roman Empire was fallen, yet the spirit 

29 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



and genius of the Roman race was not lost. The suprem- 
acy lost by war was regained by the peaceful means of re- 
ligious organization. xA.s Rome had been the world's cap- 
ital for so many centuries, it was natural and inevitable 
that the Christian churches of Rome, and especially the 
bishop of Rome, should take the lead as soon as Chris- 
tianity became the recognized religion of the empire. 
This leadership became still more pronounced after the 
fall of the empire. The Roman genius for organization 
proceeded slowly but surely to organize the churches 
throughout Western Europe, bringing them more and 
more into subjection to the central churches at Rome. 
The process had indeed begun naturally and of necessity 
in the second and third centuries, during times of perse- 
cution and heated discussions of doctrines, but it pro- 
ceeded more rapidly in the fifth, sixth, and seventh cen- 
turies. 

3. This period saw the division of Christian com- 
munities into two distinct groups : 

(a) On the one hand were the Oriental Churches, the 
Greek, the Gregorian, the Syrian and the Coptic. 

(b) On the other hand was the Occidental or the 
Roman Church. 

In the Oriental group each nationality had its own 
church organization complete within itself, with an arch- 
bishop or patriarch at the head who was quite independ- 
ent of any other. These were national Churches. All of 
them, with the exception of the Greek Church, dwindled 
to insignificant proportions. The Greek Church, by means 
of earnest missionary activity, spread through northern 
and eastern Europe and is to-day the Established Church 
of Russia, and claims a membership, in Russia alone, of 
eighty-seven millions. It has developed ritual, ceremony, 

30 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

and symbolism to a high degree, and ascribes to them al- 
most magic powers. Its official doctrines are still those 
formulated by the ecumenical councils in the fourth cen- 
tury. The Churches of the Orient, therefore, have 
made no growth except a growth in members. In 
studying the growth in understanding of Jesus' teaching 
we need to give them no further thought. They 
may best be described as Christianity fallen back 
into the very ceremonialism and externalism from which 
Christ came to set men free. They have largely lost the 
life itself that Christ gave in his teachings concerning the 
kingdom of God. This does not, however, mean that 
among Greek Christians there are no earnest or truly 
religious souls, men who are inspired by Jesus and his 
teaching. The example of Tolstoi alone would disprove 
a view so extreme. We refer here rather to the Church 
in its official capacity and practise. 

The churches of Italy and especially of Rome as- 
pired to the leadership of all the Christians in western 
Europe. The ideas of universal rulership held by the 
earlier Roman Empire were, by the leaders of the Church, 
adopted, spiritualized, and combined with the teachings 
of Jesus concerning the Kingdom, and made the founda- 
tion of an organization now over fifteen hundred years 
old, reaching out to all the world, and having elements 
of power that promise to keep it in active life for many 
centuries to come, and possibly as long as the human race 
shall last. The Roman Catholic Church is worthy of 
profound study. It has done for Europe and the world 
an immense service. It Christianized pagan hordes; it 
maintained moral life when that moral life was every- 
where else going to corruption ; it preserved the Bible and 
also the literature and culture of Rome and Greece; it 

3i 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



holds the nations together to-day as no other organiza- 
tion is able to do; it preserved the teaching of Jesus in 
such form that earnest souls by the million have found 
God their Father and Christ their Saviour. Mysti- 
cism and asceticism found favorable soil in the Roman 
Catholic system and thought. And mysticism and asceti- 
cism have both been valuable antidotes for their opposite 
tendencies. 

On the other hand, pagan customs and ideas together 
with the general ignorance of the times led to great cor- 
ruptions of doctrine and even to immoral life among the 
highest officials of the Church (see below). Yet there 
were many earnest efforts at reform, many zealous Chris- 
tians who sought to live the life exactly as they believed 
it was taught by Jesus. Ecclesiastical authorities opposed 
these reformers of doctrine and practise. Hence arose 
divisions and prolonged persecutions. The teaching 
of Jesus and of the apostles preserved by the Church 
in the New Testament led finally to that great assertion 
of individual spiritual life known as the Reformation, in 
which northern Europe broke away from the corrupt 
Christianity and institutional authority of Rome. 

4. Christian ideas as to God, Christ, man, and the 
world, underwent great transformations in and through 
the development of the great ecclesiastical organization. 
The visible Church was thought to be the kingdom of 
God. No one could be acknowledged to be a member of 
the Kingdom unless he was a member of the Church. 
Every member of the Church was a member of the King- 
dom. Baptism was the means of entering the Kingdom. 
Since the pope, the head of the Church, was the repre- 
sentative of God on earth, he and his subordinates, the 
priests, could forgive sins. They could prescribe certain 

32 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

punishments for certain sins, and thus arose the system 
of the confessional and penance. It was taught that full 
obedience to Jesus required the abandonment of family 
and the world and exclusive devotion to the Church ; and 
thus arose asceticism, and monasticism with its monks 
and nuns. But this meant two kinds or degrees of mo- 
rality, a higher degree for those who would be perfect 
and a lower degree for the common people. It was taught 
that the performance of good works, charity to the poor, 
and gifts of money to the Church, would obtain credit or 
spiritual wealth for the doer, and that the credit for them 
might be accumulated and carried into the future world. 

Worship came to consist in an elaborate ceremonial, 
especially the symbolical representation of Christ's cruci- 
fixion, known as the mass. With the doctrine of a double 
morality entered the conception of sainthood, and the 
saints were thought to have special merit and conse- 
quently had special access to Christ. Hence they could 
be prayed to, especially Mary, the mother of Jesus. 

Thus was the idea of the kingdom of God transformed 
by the development of a temporal organization, aiming 
at universal earthly rule through human agents. 

5. But was there no progress in all this long period? 
Most certainly there was. The experiment was once for 
all made of a visible, authoritative, humanly officered, 
kingdom of God. In other words, the Church became 
the state and the effort was made to administer the state 
wholly in the interests of religion. But this led to perse- 
cutions of the most cruel kinds. The inability of Church 
or state by any external authority, military or ecclesias- 
tical, to control human thought and belief has been proved 
to all thinking men. This in itself is a great step for the 
human race to have made. 

33 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



6. We may characterize this Roman period with four 
words. These characteristics beginning with the fifth 
century last down to the present time in Oriental and 
Roman Catholic Christianity. 

(i) Traditionalism, holding fast to all kinds of tradi- 
tions as essential to Christianity, regardless of their na- 
ture, and simply because they are old. 

(2) Intellectualism, insisting on correctness of belief as 
taught in the ancient creeds and as expounded by the 
orthodox interpreters of the Church. 

(3) Ecclesiasticism, putting emphasis on the Church 
organism, its authority, and its hierarchy, membership in 
the Church being essential to salvation. 

(4) Ritualism, laying stress on the forms of worship, 
especially on the sacraments which, it is taught, convey, 
in some mysterious manner, God's saving power to the 
individual. 

7. The Roman Catholic Church down to the Reforma- 
tion is the common inheritance of Catholic and Protestant 
alike. The early saints of the Church should be known 
and honored by all Christians such as : Augustine (died 
430 a. d.), Hildebrand (1085 a. d.), Anselm (1109 a. d.), 
Bernard of Clairvaux (1153 a. d.), Francis of Assisi 
(1226 a. d.), and Thomas a Kempis (1471 a. d.). Augus- 
tine's theological thinking controlled all western Europe 
for a thousand years and still has great influence. Hilde- 
brand was the greatest of the organizers of the Church. 
Under him it reached its pinnacle of power and influence. 

IV. Resurvey. 

1. Explain how superstitions and heathen practises 
crept into the Church. 

34 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

2. How did the Christian Church survive the destruc- 
tion of Rome by the northern races? 

3. How did the Roman Catholic Church acquire the 
political power of Rome? 

4. From what eastern races did the Church narrowly 
escape destruction? 

5. In what way did the peculiar genius of the Roman 
race express itself? 

6. What is the present condition of the Oriental 
Churches ? Why have they lost their spiritual life ? 

7. What was the great service of the Roman Catholic 
Church to Europe? 

8. Describe the doctrine and practise of the Roman 
Catholic Church. 

9. What is meant by traditionalism, intellectualism, ec- 
clesiasticism, ritualism ? 

10. What were the Crusades? How many were there? 

V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. What advantage has a modern institution, like the 
Y. P. S. C. E., in multiplying its influence? 

2. Is there any danger of superstitious practises getting 
into it? 

3. Is there any danger that the original constitution and 
purpose of the founder shall be forgotten or misunder- 
stood? 

4. To what dangers is it exposed? 

5. What influence has our free American democracy 
upon the Roman Catholic Church in this country? 

6. Is there any hope that the Roman Catholic Church 
will prove hospitable to new ideas and modern scholar- 
ship? 

35 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



7. Will there always be people of a certain type of 
character and intellectual attainments who will find the 
Roman Catholic Church suited to their needs ? 

8. Is it desirable that Christians should all worship by 
the same forms and believe absolutely the same teach- 
ings and belong to the same organization ? 



36 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



LESSON VI 

THE PERIOD OF THE REFORMATION 

Bibliography 

i. Schaff's History. Vols. VI and VII. 

2. Fisher's History. Periods VIII and IX. 

3. Medieval and Modern History, by Meyer. 

4. The Reformation, by George P. Fisher, 1873. Scrib- 
ner's. 

5. A History of the Reformation, by Thomas M. Lind- 
say, 1906. Scribner's. 

6. Martin Luther, by Henry E. Jacobs, 1898. Putnam's. 

7. Martin Luther, by Julius Kostlin, 1883. Scribner's. 

8. For Luther, Calvin, Knox, Zwingli, etc., consult Mc- 
Clintock & Strong's Cyclopedia, or Schaff-Herzog En- 
cyclopedia. 

9. Great Men of the Christian Church, by Williston 
Walker, 1908. University of Chicago Press. 

I. Preparatory Suggestion. 

Make a list of all the religious denominations you can 
think of; then after the study of the lesson try to trace 
their connection with one or other of the Reformation 
Churches. 

II. Lesson Outline. 
Forerunners of the Reformation. 

37 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



Heroes of the Reformation. Successful in the Ger- 
manic races, unsuccessful in the Latin races. 

The individual, his liberty and his rights, at the founda- 
tion of the Reformation. 

Religious liberty is the mother of civil liberty. Four 
great Reformation Churches. 

III. The Fourth or Reformation Period of the 
Christian Church. (1400-1648 a. d.) 

1. The environment. All Europe was nominally Chris- 
tian. And yet, as we saw in our last lesson, the Christian 
Church had become corrupt in life and perverted in doc- 
trine. Immorality was rampant in many quarters, even 
in the Church, and especially at its chief center, Rome. 

When the Turks captured Constantinople, in the year 
1453, * ts learned men fled to Italy, carrying with them 
their knowledge of the Greek language and literature. 
Then began in Europe a new period of learning, the 
new learning it was called, or the Renaissance. Scholas- 
ticism was increasingly doubted and disputed. A new 
ferment was working in the entire intellectual life of 
Western Europe. Science took its modern start with the 
overthrow of the Ptolemaic geocentric astronomy. Exact 
inductive study of nature began, and from it have sprung 
all our modern sciences. A new era in geographical 
knowledge of the earth was developed by travel and ex- 
ploration. Discoveries of many kinds produced wealth, 
and increasing wealth made young and energetic spirits 
discontented with the established ways. This wide-spread 
agitation produced increasing distrust of former doctrines. 
Moreover, a rising tide of piety turned against the cor- 
ruption and coldness of established religion. Out of all 
these influences came the intellectual, moral and religious 

38 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

upheaval known to Protestants as the Reformation. Be- 
fore it gained full recognition, however, there were many 
anticipations or prophecies of it in the work of devoted 
men in various parts of Europe; Pre-Reformation Re- 
formers they are called. Of these Wyclif of England 
(1384 a. d.), Huss of Bohemia (141 5 a. d.), Savonarola 
of Italy (1498 a. d.) are perhaps the most noteworthy. 

2. The great men of the period on the Protestant side 
were: 

(a) Martin Luther, the German (1546 a. d.). 

(b) John Calvin, the Swiss (1564 a. d.). 

(c) John Knox, the Scot (1572 a. d.). 

The movement took its start from the dramatic act of 
Martin Luther when he nailed his ninety-five theses on 
the church door at Wittenberg. All Germany was soon 
ablaze with excitement. The situation rapidly became 
most critical, for men were compelled to decide upon their 
beliefs in such wise as to be ready to fight and perhaps 
die for them. 

3. Although the protesting and reforming spirit was 
not without many adherents in Austria, Italy, France, and 
Spain, yet it was in Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and 
England that the Reformation took the deepest root and 
produced its ripest and most abundant fruit. In the first 
group of countries, triumphant Roman Catholicism 
crushed out the entire Protestant movement, but only by 
the most cruel and bloody persecutions, by the Inquisi- 
tion and the stake. It is impossible to tell how many 
thousands of Protestants in those countries lost not only 
houses and lands but also their lives, because of their 
faith. The outcome of the long struggle, ending with the 
Thirty Years' War (1618-1648 a. d.), was that northern 
Europe including England and Scotland became predomi- 

39 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



nantly Protestant, while western, southern and central 
Europe remained Catholic. A single statement will show 
how fateful was the conflict: at the beginning of the 
Thirty Years' War the population of Germany was thirty 
millions; at its close, but twelve millions. Little Holland 
made as brave and finally as successful a fight as any 
European country, with William the Silent for its hero 
(1584 A. D.). 

4. The result of the Reformation was the establishment 
of a new type of Christianity which we call Protestant- 
ism. This religious and moral movement expressed not 
only a rejection of the essential points of Roman Cathol- 
icism, but a new and deeper understanding of the teach- 
ing of Jesus. Protestantism rejected each of the chief 
features characterizing Catholicism; viz., traditionalism, 
intellectualism, ecclesiasticism, and ritualism. It af- 
firmed : — 

(a) The Bible alone has authority as the rule for faith 
and conduct. Every man should read and study the Bible 
and interpret it for himself, out of his own experience, 
and as guided by the Holy Spirit. 

(b) Salvation depends on faith which involves the will, 
and not on mere intellectual beliefs, or on membership in 
any visible church. 

(c) The true Church is invisible. The Roman Catholic 
Church is not identical with the kingdom of God, nor is 
the pope the vicegerent of God on earth — the claim to 
be such is the spirit of Antichrist. The true Church is 
the community of those who have faith, among whom the 
Word of God is preached. They are all brothers in 
Christ. Their organization is for mutual help and stimu- 
lus, and for the maintenance and propagation of the faith. 

(d) No ritual has any power in itself to save. Chris- 

40 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

tians are free to form their own church organizations 
and to adopt their own preferred rituals of worship. 

(e) Every Christian has immediate access to God. He 
needs no priest, no confessional, no pope, no church, no 
acts of penance to secure forgiveness of sin and eternal 
salvation. Worship paid to the saints or to Mary is not 
Christian practise. 

5. Protestantism soon came to be a conscious effort to 
get back to the simplicity and purity of original Chris- 
tianity. For this the New Testament was the only source. 
But to do this was not so easy as at first appeared ; and in 
fact the Protestants brought over from Catholicism many 
beliefs and practises that had come into the Church long 
after the time of the apostles. This was true in regard 
to some doctrines, ideas as to the relation of Church and 
State, as to the conception of Church authority, and in 
some quarters as to church organization and religious 
worship. 

6. The essential principle at the bottom of the Refor- 
mation was the spirit of freedom, resistance to external, 
institutional, arbitrary and unjust authority on the one 
hand; and on the other hand, insistence on the right of 
the individual to think, believe, and act according to the 
requirements of his own conscience and reason. This 
principle was not fully realized or practised by the Re- 
formers. Many of the newly formed Protestant churches 
soon forgot the very truths for which they had stood, 
truths which had brought them into existence; and they 
also began to reassert their own external, arbitrary author- 
ity, and even to persecute those who differed from them. 
They seemed to agree with Catholicism, that the thoughts 
and beliefs of the human spirit can be controlled by legal 
force and physical punishments. It has taken even the 

41 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



Protestant churches long centuries to learn the great 
truth that only reason and truth can control the mind 
and that therefore the great principle of religious tolera- 
tion is essential for the attainment of growth and truth. 

7. A few further results of the Reformation may be 
mentioned : — 

(a) Because Protestantism recognizes the right of the 
individual to use his own reason and conscience, a great 
impulse was given to the attainment of political liberty for 
the individual. People who have asserted and obtained 
individual religious liberty are the ones to desire and fight 
for civil liberty also. Democratic government is a neces- 
sary outcome of Protestant individualism. Ecclesiastical 
democracy has aided political democracy. Self-consistent 
Protestantism means liberty everywhere, but self-con- 
sistent Catholicism spells despotism everywhere. The 
former derives authority from the individual and builds 
upward, while the second derives all authority from the 
top to which all below must render obedience. 

(b) It is significant that intellectual progress and popu- 
lar education are far ahead in Protestant lands. The 
reason is the same, emphasis on the value and rights of 
the individual. 

(c) The material progress and welfare of Protestant 
people is in marked contrast to that of the nations ad- 
hering strictly to Roman Catholic doctrine. The reason 
is obvious. Individual initiative and enterprise are fos- 
tered by this development of civil and religious liberty. 

8. The Protestant movement, through its very prin- 
ciple of freedom, could not naturally unite into a single 
ecclesiastical organization in opposition to the Roman 
Catholic Church. Among the Protestants were to be 
found many more or less conflicting views, as well as 

42 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

members of different races and nations. It was inevitable 
that those who held common opinions should organize 
into one group. Four important church organizations 
arose in this period : — 

(a) The Lutheran, so named because dominated at first 
by the great personality of Martin Luther. This Church 
is exclusively German. It became the State Church, and 
brought over from Catholicism some doctrines now re- 
garded by many as essentially Roman Catholic. 

(b) The Reformed. This Church was organized by Cal- 
vin. It strove to restore the form of the Apostolic Church 
in both doctrine and government. It was more radical 
than the Lutheran Church in omitting objectionable fea- 
tures of the Roman Catholic Church. 

(c) The Presbyterian. This Church was founded by 
John Knox in Scotland. He was a friend of Calvin, and 
was much influenced by his thought. The points of differ- 
ence between the Reformed Church and the Presbyterian 
Church were not great. Presbyterianism was limited to 
Scotland, and the Reformed Church throve only in Swit- 
zerland and Holland. 

(d) The Protestant Episcopal. In England the Refor- 
mation followed a peculiar course. It was at first a po- 
litical revolt from subordination to the pope, led by Henry 
VIII. The Roman Catholic Church in England followed 
the king; gradually the doctrines of the Reformation 
were more or less completely incorporated into its creed. 
The Protestant Episcopal Church of England is, therefore, 
a composite and compromise body, having traditions run- 
ning back fifteen hundred years and principles in its or- 
ganization and doctrine which ally it closely with the 
Roman Catholic Church. 

43 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



IV. Resurvey. 

i. What effect had the capture of Constantinople on the 
spiritual life of Europe? How? 

2. Who were the Pre-Reformation Reformers? Where 
did they live? What was their work? 

3. Where was the Reformation successful? In what 
countries was it exterminated? 

4. Who were the heroes of the Reformation ? 

5. What was the population of Germany before and 
after the Thirty Years' War? 

6. What was the doctrine of the Reformation concern- 
ing the Bible, faith, the Church, ritual, prayer? 

7. What features of Catholicism were retained by Prot- 
estantism ? 

8. What was the essential principle of the Reformation ? 

9. Show how religious liberty is related to civil liberty. 
10. Name the four most important churches of the Refor- 
mation. 

ir. What are their characteristic differences? 

V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. What was the occasion which led Luther to write 
his ninety-five theses? 

2. Why should the Reformation have been successful 
in Germany and unsuccessful in Italy? Did racial char- 
acteristics have anything to do with it? 

3. Is the Church now surrendering the Reformation 
doctrine of the authority of the Bible? Do we need any 
authority? Would the authority of Jesus Christ be a 
good substitute for the authority of the Church and the 
authority of the Bible? 

44 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

4. Is there any need for reform in the Church in our 
day? In what particulars should there be a reform? Is 
any reform at present taking place? 



45 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



LESSON VII 

CHRISTIAN ENGLAND 

Bibliography 

i. Official Year Books of the Church of England. 
Thomas Whittaker, Bible House, New York City. 

2. The Free Church Year Book, 1905. 

3. Nonconformity in the Nineteenth Century. C. Sil- 
vester Home. 

4. Problem of Religious Progress. Daniel Dorchester, 
1894. Hunt & Eaton. 

5. Growth of the Kingdom. Gulick. Chapter 3. 

6. The English Reformation, by Cunningham Geikie, 
1879. Strahan & Co. 

7. The History of Religion in England, for Young Folk, 
by Brooke Herford, 1884. The Sunday School Associa- 
tion, London. 

8. The Social Meaning of Modern Religious Movements 
in England, by Thomas C. Hall, 1900. Scribner's. 

I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

1. Connect the religious history of England with its 
secular history ; e. g., the Reformation came in whose 
reigns? What were the great political events of the six- 
teenth century? 

2. Connect English and American political and religious 

47 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



history ; e. g., the settlement of the New England colonies 
corresponded with what religious persecution in England? 

II. Lesson Outline. 

The beginnings of Christianity in England. 

Protestantism received in England in a compromising 
spirit. 

In Scotland, Protestantism becomes Presbyterianism. 
An Established Church in danger of formalism. The 
quickened and quickening religious life of Methodism. 

Religious work in the hands of laymen. 

England no longer agricultural but manufacturing. 
Consequent redistribution of population and new problems 
for the Church. 

III. The Fifth or Anglo-Saxon Period of the Chris- 

tian Church. The Christian Church in Eng- 
land, 
i. Druidism, the original religion of England, was not 
only polytheistic and barbarous, but also extremely sav- 
age in many of its customs and practises. Christianity 
was introduced into England by missionaries from Eu- 
rope, possibly as early as the third or fourth century. 
Later than that, in the year 596 a. d., a group of forty mis- 
sionaries, under the leadership of one of their number 
named Augustine, were sent from Rome by Pope Gregory 
I, and thus Christianity was formally established. Many 
centuries of missionary work elapsed before Christianity 
became the acknowledged religion of the many tribes of 
England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Although far dis- 
tant from Rome, yet from the time of Augustine, in Church 
matters England was entirely ruled from Rome. As a 
result, the Christianity of England shared the general 
development of the Roman Catholic Church. In the re- 

48 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

vival of learning, in the geographical discoveries of the 
fifteenth century and in the early Reformation movements, 
England took an honored part. 

2. But when the Reformation was fully in progress in 
Germany, England lagged behind. Henry VIII, for rea- 
sons partly personal and partly political, renounced al- 
legiance to the pope (1534 a. d.), and by Parliament was 
made the head of the English Church, "setting up in Eng- 
land a little popedom of his own." Only after consider- 
able delay were the essential features of European Protes- 
tantism introduced into the English Church. In the suc- 
ceeding centuries, first a Roman Catholic and then a Prot- 
estant was on the throne, thus furnishing ascendency first 
to one and then to another set of ecclesiastics, and giving 
occasion for persecution and counter-persecution. Neither 
party seemed to have any conception of religious freedom. 
Those were times of trouble for men of convictions. A 
study of this period of history is highly instructive. Not 
until the end of the sixteenth century under Queen Eliza- 
beth did the Established Church of England become even 
moderately Protestant. 

3. There were in England, however, many earnest and 
religious men who were far from satisfied with the half- 
hearted measures of reform taken by the Established 
Church. They wished purer forms of worship and of 
creed; purer, i.e., more like those found in the New 
Testament. These men did not leave the Church to 
found a new one, but tried to purify it from within ; hence 
they were called Puritans. They played an important part 
in the religious and political history of England, and 
often suffered much from persecution. Still others there 
were, more extreme, who would not remain within the 
Church or have anything to do with it. Such men 

49 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



formed independent churches of their own in no relation 
to the State. They became known as Independents. They 
were at one time severely persecuted by the Established 
Church, so that many fled for safety to Holland. Besides 
these, there were other groups of Christians who refused 
to follow with the majority, — the Quakers, for example, 
and the Baptists. 

4. In Scotland, still an independent nation with a crown 
and a queen of its own, John Knox led the forces of re- 
form and succeeded in entirely eradicating the Roman 
Catholic Church, and in establishing a new form of or- 
ganization with a new creed. This became known as the 
Presbyterian Church. In it the responsibility of govern- 
ment was arranged to rest on the elders. It became the 
Established Church of Scotland, and remains so to the 
present time. 

5. There is no more certain teaching of history than 
this: whenever a religious organization becomes estab- 
lished as the regular and official religion of the State, it 
gradually loses its original vigor and purity; it becomes 
formal. Men share in its worship, not because of their 
own religious beliefs and desires but because of custom; 
because failure to conform brings political and social 
annoyance. The heart of religion vanishes and em- 
phasis is laid on externals. This tendency brings with it 
decay in moral and religious life; hypocrisy grows; men 
with little or no religious enthusiasm become prominent 
in its offices. This has happened not only in the Greek 
Church and in the Roman Catholic Church, but also in 
Protestant Churches. Lutheran, Reformed, Episcopal, 
Presbyterian, and Puritan Churches have all suffered 
from this tendency. Established Churches, moreover, 
have always proved exceedingly difficult of reform from 

50 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

within. Whenever the reform spirit has become strong, it 
has generally led to schism. It has been compelled to 
break away from its mother church and organize a new 
body, more in conformity with the new spirit. The Prot- 
estant Reformation in Europe was such a movement in 
the Roman Church. The Independents, Baptists, Quakers 
and Methodists were such movements within the Prot- 
estant Episcopal Church. Reformed Presbyterians and 
Free Presbyterians were an expression of the reform spirit 
in the Established Church of Scotland. Each of these 
new bodies represents active religious and moral move- 
ments, not strong enough to reform the parent organiza- 
tion, yet too strong and aggressive to live within it. 
While schism has its evil side, yet when regarded as a 
sign of rising religious and moral life, especially when 
schism is essential to the success of this new life, then it 
is to be commended. 

6. The Methodist movement began in this way : Charles 
W 7 esley (1788 a. d.), John Wesley (1791 a. d.) and White- 
field (1770 a. d.) had originally no intention of founding 
a new Church, but finally felt compelled to do so. The 
impulse originating from them has carried new life into 
the hearts of its own members and also of all the other 
bodies of Christians both in the Established Church and 
among the Free Churches. Religious and moral life had 
fallen to a deplorably low level by the middle of the 
eighteenth century. The new life engendered by the great 
revivals has quite transformed England. It is not too 
much to say that England was never so free from gross 
immorality, from political corruption, never was justice 
more fairly administered, and never were there so many 
and so genuinely Christian Christians in England as there 
are to-day. 

Si 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



7. The Christians of England are divided into two prin- 
cipal groups : — 

( 1 ) The Established or the Protestant Episcopal Church. 
This is governed by bishops and archbishops appointed by 
the crown. It contains two widely separated elements 
with a small connecting body, (a) The High Church 
party emphasizes episcopal organization and ordination, 
the ritual and ceremonies, and the ecclesiastical nearness 
to Rome by which it would like to be recognized as a 
part of the true Catholic Church, (b) The Low Church 
party emphasizes its Protestant and evangelical elements, 
and minimizes rituals and ceremonials. In many aspects 
of religious thought and life it is in close connection and 
sympathy with the Non-Episcopal Churches. Each party 
maintains its own missionary organization, and in im- 
portant ways, each opposes and distrusts the other, and 
considers that the other is lacking in the essentials of 
Christian life and doctrine, (c) The Broad Church party 
consists of a small body of highly educated and exceed- 
ingly liberal men who insist that the true Church is large 
enough to include men of all kinds of creeds and beliefs 
and rituals. They maintain that the essentials of Chris- 
tianity exist in the moral life rather than in creeds and 
rituals. 

(2) The Non-conformist or Free Churches, i. e., all 
churches which are wholly independent of state support 
and control. Some of these Free Churches have a long 
history behind them. Presbyterians, Congregationalists, 
(formerly called Independents), Baptists, and Quakers, 
reach back into early Reformation times. The Free 
Churches have made their chief gains only during 
the past century. From the Reformation to the present 
time, the different "sects" or denominations have gone 

52 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

their own ways with no reference to each other, and often 
with more or less open and active rivalry and opposition. 
This feature was, indeed, the source of the chief weak- 
ness of the Free Church movement; it had no means of 
united action as opposed to their common opponents, (i) 
the Established Church, on the one hand, or (2) en- 
trenched evils in state and society, on the other. 

In the year 1895, however, representatives of these 
Churches organized a central body called the Free Church 
National Council. The various members of which this 
Council is composed manifest a wide variety of church 
organization, but in respect to their creeds, especially in 
respect to the important matters of the Christian faith, 
they found themselves in remarkable agreement, and in 
agreement, also, it should be added, with the great central 
beliefs of the Established Church. Their chief reason for 
antagonizing the Established Church is because it is es- 
tablished as the State Church. This they oppose on prin- 
ciple. They likewise oppose its doctrine of episcopal au- 
thority, its ecclesiasticism, ceremonialism and ritualism, 
and especially the tendency of the High Church party 
toward Rome. Each Free Church denomination retains 
its independent organization, its own preferred methods 
of work, its own missionary societies, etc. 

8. The most prominent feature of Christian England of 
the nineteenth century is the active participation 
of laymen in Christian work and in religious 
services. So long as Christianity was thought of as 
a churchly and priestly institution, only ordained men, 
i. e., priests, could be allowed to give religious instruc- 
tion. But when Christianity was felt as a power in 
the present life of the individual, it could no longer be 
the peculiar property of the clergy. Every man who felt 

53 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



the spirit of God moving in his heart could begin to preach 
and teach, even though not ordained and even though all 
his life he remained a merchant or a day-laborer. Un- 
paid Christian workers in England increased to an extra- 
ordinary degree; new organizations and forms of work 
sprang into existence. The Sunday-schools, the Young 
Men's Christian Associations, the Pleasant Sunday After- 
noon Brotherhood, the Salvation Army, Foreign and Lo- 
cal Missionary Societies of many kinds have come into 
existence in large numbers. 

9. A few statistics will show the comparative strength 
of the Established Church and the Free Churches in Eng- 
land and Wales in the year 1905. 





Established 


Free 


Communicants 


2,123,551 (estimated) 


2,045,544 


Church sittings 


7,165,437 


8,208,774 


S. S. Teachers 


207,142 


397^14 


S. S. Scholars 


2,961,787 


3439,856 



The figures for the Churches throughout the world are 
these: the Protestant Episcopal Church, with all its 
branches in the United States, in Canada, Australia, and 
in all mission lands, claims 3,662,906 communicants; the 
Free Churches and their branches in all these lands num- 
ber 21,256,548 communicants. 

10. During the nineteenth century, England changed rap- 
idly from an agricultural to an industrial nation. This 
change caused great shiftings of population, resulting in 
serious problems of morals and religion. One of the most 
conspicuous characteristics of Christianity in England is 
its earnest and vigorous attack upon these problems. This 
means the effort to apply the teaching of Jesus in its 

54 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

fundamental principles to the moral and social needs of 
the times. The Kingdom of which Jesus taught is not 
thought of as located only on the farther side of the 
grave, but on the hither side and in the present time. It 
is believed that only as Christians do their best to make 
Jesus King in this world can they be counted as members 
of his Kingdom. This view marks a great advance over 
the opinions held in the Middle Ages, that Christ's King- 
dom is beyond the grave, the devil having practically ex- 
clusive control of this world, escape from which is alone 
salvation. England leads the world to-day in the efforts 
of Christian men and women to make Christ King in all 
social relations and to apply Christ's moral teaching to 
the social problems of the modern world. We shall study 
this subject more in detail in Parts III and IV; conse- 
quently we do not need to do more here than to mention 
this point as one of the prominent ways in which the 
understanding of Christianity has developed. 

IV. Resurvey. 

1. Sketch the introduction and early history of the 
Church in England. 

2. Describe the compromising way in which Protestant- 
ism was received in England. 

3. Explain the difference between Puritans and Inde- 
pendents. 

4. What is the essential doctrine of Presbyterianism ? 
Where is the Presbyterian Church the Established Church ? 

5. What is the inevitable tendency of Established 
Churches? How may they be reformed? 

6. Show how Methodism has quickened the religious 
life of all England. 

55 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



7. Name the two principal groups of Christians in Eng- 
land. What are the subdivisions of these two groups? 

8. What part have laymen taken in the work of the 
modern Church in England? 

9. What are the comparative sizes of the Established 
and the Free Churches in England? W^hat throughout 
the world? 

10. What shiftings of population took place in the nine- 
teenth century? In what way is the Church meeting the 
consequent social and moral problems? 

V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. The reasons why Episcopacy did not make an early 
start in the United States. 

2. If an independent Church would seem to be in har- 
mony with the democratic spirit, why is it that the Epis- 
copal Church is making such rapid advance in our large 
cities ? 

3. The influence of the American environment on the 
Roman Catholic and the Episcopal Churches in America. 

4. Where are the great and difficult problems of the 
Church located, in the country or in the city? 



56 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



LESSON VIII 

THE UNITED STATES 
Bibliography 

1. Growth of the Kingdom, by Gulick. Chapter 4. 

2. Problem of Religious Progress, by Daniel Dorches- 
ter. Part IV, Chapter 3. 

3. Religious Forces of the United States, by Carroll. 

4. Christianity in the United States, by Daniel Dor- 
chester, 1887. Hunt & Eaton. 

5. A History of American Christianity, by Leonard W. 
Bacon, 1897. 

6. Practical Christian Sociology, by Wilbur F. Crafts, 
1907. Funk & Wagnalls Co. 

I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

1. Make a rough estimate of the numbers of people in 
your town or city who are church-members, who go to 
church, who are Roman Catholic, who do not have any 
church connection. 

2. With the total population of your town in mind, find 
how the ratios of church-members, etc., to population 
compare with the corresponding ratios of the country as 
a whole. 

II. Lesson Outline. 

A free church in a free state. 

Statistics of the churches in the United States. 

57 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



The evils of denominationalism. 
Corresponding evils in the Established Churches. 
The spirit of unity manifested in interdenominational 
organizations. 

The differences largely those of administration. 
The religious training of the young. 
The popular study of the Bible. 

III. The Fifth or Anglo-Saxon Period of the Chris- 
tian Church (continued). The Christian 
Church in the United States. 

1. In the United States, for the first time in history, has 
the experiment been made of freeing the State and the 
Church from the authoritative control of the other; that 
is, the Church does not control the State as the ideal of 
the Roman Catholic Church requires, nor does the 
State rule the Church as is the pagan ideal and practise; 
and this latter form is virtually the condition of the Es- 
tablished Churches in England, Germany and Russia. The 
early emigrants to North America were recruited chiefly 
from the Protestant elements of northern Europe, espe- 
cially from England and Holland. Although the Puritans 
of New England made Congregationalism the state re- 
ligion, yet the democratic principles of Congregationalism 
itself and the liberal and democratic tendencies of the 
times insured and secured the disestablishment of Congre- 
gationalism and the thoroughgoing adoption by the 
United States of a free state and free churches. 

2. An incidental result of this movement has been the 
fact that only in the United States have statistics been 
kept and preserved with such exactness as to enable us to 
judge with considerable accuracy concerning the rise and 
fall of religious interests on the part of the people as a 

58 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

whole. This condition is in marked contrast with con- 
ditions that prevail in Roman Catholic countries, and even 
in those Protestant countries of Europe in which religion 
is established by the State, church officials are appointed 
and supported by the State and have certain official du- 
ties to do for the State, and every person who does not 
positively reject his relation to the Church is counted as 
a Christian. Even in Christian England it is impossible 
to know how many should be counted as members of the 
Established Church, for all are included who are not 
connected with some Free Church. In Germany and in 
Roman Catholic lands, all young people are "con- 
firmed" at about the age of fourteen years, and are in- 
cluded in the number of the members of the Church 
whether in after-life they believe or not, and whether 
they attend church services or not. In the United States, 
however, as in the Free Churches of England, only those 
are counted church-members who profess conversion in 
adult life and voluntarily join the Church and take part 
in the support of the Church. Statistics of such persons 
have been carefully kept by all denominations in the 
United States and thus we are enabled to know with great 
accuracy what are the statistical facts in regard to them. 

3. The table on the following page is worthy of careful 
study. The authorities for these figures are the United 
States Census; The Problem of Religious Progress, pp. 
555-606; and The Religious Forces of the United States, 
by Dr. Carroll. The lower line is partly from Social 
Progress, by Josiah Strong. 1906. 

4. As in England, so in the United States, there is 
perhaps no more noticeable and promising feature of the 
religious life than the wide religious activity of laymen, 
that is, of men and women who maintain their ordinary 

59 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



The Religious Statistics of the United States 





c 


•*-» e/1 




M 


</) 









=s c 


n 






« 




4* 

J3 

*3 
p- 

a. 


•2.2 

in'** 

D c/v 


B 
09 
In 

CD 
-C 
T3 

< 


aj 

In 

EL, 


gj 




1800 


5,308,000 


364,872 


912,180 


1,277,052 


3,931,436 


100,000 


j8io 


7,239,000 




. . . 


... 






1820 


9,658,000 






. . . 






1830 


12,886,000 




. . • 


... 






1840 


17,069,000 




. . • 








1850 


23,191,000 


3,529.988 


8,824,970 


12,354,958 


9,222,918 


1,614,000 


i860 


31,443,000 






. . . 






l ll° 


38,558,000 


6,673,39! 


16,683,470 


23,356,866 


10,601,515 


4,600,000 
6,367,000 


1880 


50,152,000 


10,065, q63 


25,164,907 


35,230,870 


8,554,996 


1890 


62,622,000 


14,180,000 


35,450,000 


49,630,000 


5,794,000 


7,198,000 


IQ05 


•89,496,468 


20,233,194 


46,989,806 


67,223,000 


11,487,972 


10,785,499 . 



* Estimated. 

means of self-support and yet at the same time carry on 
some form of religious work. The Sunday-school, the 
Young Men's Christian Association, the vast number of 
mission chapels, foreign and home missionary societies, 
reform homes, philanthropic and charitable institutions, 
are some of the results of this movement. 

5. A charge against the churches is made by certain 
critics, on the ground that the Church is divided into so 
many denominations that it is impossible to know what 
true Christianity is. One sect denies what another sect 
teaches; the rivalry and jealousy of the sects is also 
pointed at with scorn. "See how these Christians love 
one another," they sneeringly say. Roman Catholics as- 
sert that this state of division is the result of the Prot- 
estant principle of freedom of belief. "As many heads, 
so many creeds." Episcopalians believe that it is due to 
the rejection of the authority of the true Church founded 
by Jesus, i. e., Episcopacy. 

60 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



CHART I. 

Illustrating the Religious 

Statistics of the 
United States of America, 




50,152,000 

62,622,000 



1905 



Total 89,496,468 



6i 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



What reply can be made to these criticisms? 
(i) It must be confessed that jealous rivalry, mutual 
suspicion and efforts at proselyting are truly unchristian. 

(2) It may be confidently asserted that external and or- 
ganic unity, such as exists in the Roman Catholic and 
Protestant Lutheran Churches, does not secure inner 
unity or freedom from bitter party strifes and jealous ri- 
valries. Consider the Roman Catholic orders, the Domin- 
icans, the Franciscans, the Jesuits; and the High Church 
and Low Church parties in England. 

(3) There is a manifest and growing unity of belief 
and spirit among the Protestant denominations of Eng- 
land as we have already seen. The same is true of the 
denominations in the United States. On all the main es- 
sentials of faith there is substantial agreement. This real 
agreement is so generally recognized that large spiritual 
and evangelistic movements of a union character are com- 
mon. The Young Men's Christian Association is one such 
interdenominational movement; so too is the Young Peo- 
ple's Society of Christian Edeavor with its four million 
members, all adopting the same pledge. The principle re- 
vealed in such union movements is always the same. 
Protestants, although not hitherto organically one, have 
long been spiritually united. Their understanding of the 
teaching of Jesus, their conception of God, of Jesus, of 
salvation and of the kingdom of God are practically the 
same. To a large degree they sing the same hymns, and 
engage in forms of worship not strikingly different. 
Members of one denomination are easily transferable to 
another simply on the presentation of a letter of com- 
mendation. 

(4) Wherein, then, do the Protestant bodies differ? 

62 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

What has divided them ? The characteristic differences are 
almost wholly in regard to methods of organization, support, 
and control; and in these respects there is certainly an 
allowable difference of opinion. The systems of organiza- 
tion preferred by Methodists and found by them work- 
able and productive of large results, are quite different 
from those preferred and found effective by Presbyterians. 
And these again are quite different from the loose and 
free organization found useful by Congregationalists and 
Baptists. A study of the history, especially of the origin, 
of each denomination shows that it came into being in 
response to a new activity of spiritual life which could 
not be contained or restrained by the existing organiza- 
tion. Far better is it that a new denomination should be 
born than that spirit life should languish or die. 

(5) But what still keeps denominations apart if there 
are so many elements of real unity ? Two things : the con- 
fidence of each denomination in the superiority of the 
mode of organization with which it is familiar, and by 
which it has hitherto done its great work, and its igno- 
rance and consequent suspicion of other modes of organ- 
ization. Denominational isolation is a great barrier in the 
way of mutual knowledge and appreciation. This un- 
fortunate condition is giving way, however, with the rise 
of religious newspapers and habits of wide travel. The 
day of mutual knowledge, respect and outward expres- 
sions of essential unity is at hand: it is certain that some 
form of visible union will make this inner union 
effective. 

(6) Since writing the first draft of these Outline Studies 
an event of great importance to Protestant churches in the 
United States has taken place, viz., the organization of 
the "Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in Amer- 

63 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



ica." Its first regular meeting was held in December, 
1908. Its delegates represented over eighteen millions of 
professing Christians. Would not a study by all Sunday- 
schools of the history of the various leading denomina- 
tions, and a real knowledge of their various modes of 
organization, with their special advantages and disadvan- 
tages, be of great value in advancing the movement of 
universal Christian unity? 

6. A characteristic of the Christian life of the United 
States, in which it excels all other countries, is the wide 
and successful presentation of Christian truth to young 
people. The same is true, though not to the same extent, 
in England. In this respect we see a distinct advance in 
the understanding of Christianity beyond every preceding 
age. Until modern times Christian truth was stated in 
creeds, often difficult to understand, and religion was com- 
monly thought to be only for adults. Sermons were ad- 
dressed only to mature minds and religious thought was 
expressed in forms and in language ill adapted to the 
youthful mind. Now religious truth is presented in simple 
forms and in language comprehensible by the young. Ser- 
mons for children, Sunday-schools and religious organiza- 
tions for children, are common in all growing churches. 
This, of course, means the simplification of religious 
thought for all, thus making it increasingly suited to the 
large number of people who have neither time nor inclina- 
tion to master a complicated and difficult system. And 
this in turn means the powerful promotion of universal 
Christian unity which may finally lead to union. 

7. Although the criticism is frequently heard that re- 
ligion is being deserted by men and left only to women, 
as a matter of history the reverse is probably true, and 
nowhere more true than in the United States. It is not 

64 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

too much to say that while Roman Catholicism with its 
ritual and symbolism, and the High Church Protestant 
Episcopal Church with its esthetic ceremonials appeal 
almost exclusively to ecclesiastics and women, strong, 
masculine, intelligent and rational Christianity is to be 
found only in the evangelical Protestant bodies, and is 
making an appeal to men as at no time since the early 
centuries. 

In London, in the year 1902-3, twenty thousand more 
men were found worshiping in Free Churches than in the 
Established Churches. In the United States less than one 
hundred years ago the number of Christian students was 
very small indeed; but to-day more than sixty per cent 
of college students are said to be members of the Church. 
In England the Pleasant Sunday Afternoon Brotherhood 
is composed entirely of men, and numbers scores of 
thousands. It is true that in every land women form the 
majority of the congregations; and yet there are some 
churches in which the reverse is true; and it is safe to 
say that not since early times have the numbers of men 
and women attending Christian services been so nearly 
equal. 

It should be noted also that in recent decades even, the 
doctrines of Christianity are receiving more masculine ex- 
pression. Religion is not thought of as requiring chiefly 
patient submission to the will of God, but rather as giving 
courage and activity. Religion means going out in labor ; 
it means courageous work in the slums of cities, in the 
outskirts of civilization and in savage or barbarous lands. 
The modern conception of Jesus himself has become much 
stronger in personal and human character than preceding 
ages have thought or pictured him. 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



8. Another significant characteristic of Christianity in 
the United States is the extraordinary amount of popular 
study of the Bible. In the history of Christianity never 
have so many people been engaged in studying and teach- 
ing the Bible as are to be found so doing Sunday by Sun- 
day in the Protestant churches of England and America. 
In Great Britain in the year 1905, there were over 674,000 
teachers and 7,364,000 pupils in the Sunday-schools. In 
the United States there were, the same year, 1,451,000 
teachers and 11,329,000 pupils, making a total for the two 
countries of 2,125,000 teachers and 18,693,000 pupils. 
Thus there are more than twenty million persons study- 
ing the Bible in these two great Christian countries. The 
significance and promise of these facts are obvious. 

IV. Resurvey. 

1. Where first was the experiment made of a free 
church in a free state? 

2. Why are statistics of the Churches in the United 
States more satisfactory than elsewhere? 

3. Give the numbers (in millions) of Protestants, Ad- 
herents, Roman Catholics, and non-Christians in 1905. 

4. What are the admitted evils of denominationalism ? 
Are there corresponding evils found in Established 
Churches ? 

5. What two interdenominational societies show the 
true spirit of unity? 

6. Is there a true spiritual unity between the denomina- 
tions ? By what event has it been recently manifested ? 

7. In what respects do the denominations principally dif- 
fer? What are the most hopeful means for the removal 
of these differences? 

66 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

8. How much is done in the United States for the re- 
ligious training of the young? 

9. Is Protestantism adapted to be a religion for strong 
men? 

10. Give approximate numbers of those who are study- 
ing the Bible in the United States. 

V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. Would it be an advantage or a disadvantage to be 
able to pay the expenses of the church from the town or 
city funds raised by taxation? 

2. Of what evils of denominationalism have you had 
personal experience? 

3. Give some reasons that might be urged in favor of 
having different denominations in the same place. 

4. Name various activities in which different denomina- 
tions could engage together. 

5. What are the characteristics of a church adapted for 
men? 

6. The results to be expected from the present popular 
wave of Bible study. 

7. Investigate the Federal Council and its prospects. 



67 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



LESSON IX 

GENERAL REVIEW 
Bibliography 

1. Events and Epochs in Religious History, by James 
Freeman Clarke, 1887. Ticknor & Co. 

2. The History of Christianity, by J. S. C. Abbott, 1875. 
B. B. Russell. 

3. The Continuity of Christian Thought, by A. V. G. 
Allen, 1894. Houghton, Mifflin Co. 

4. The Essence of Christianity, by W. A. Brown, 1902. 
Scribner's. 

I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

1. In studying to-day's lesson, get clearly in mind the 
chief characteristics of each period and with each step 
in advance ask yourself whether this step was a true and 
desirable development of the teaching of Jesus, or whether 
it was a departure from that teaching. 

2. At the close of the lesson ask yourself whether the 
Church needs to return to the simple teaching of Jesus, 
and limit itself to that, or whether it should insist upon 
the later developments of Christianity as necessary or 
desirable. 

II. Lesson Outline. 

The essentials of the teaching of Jesus. 

69 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



The contribution to Christian Church history made by 
the period of the apostles, the Greeks, the Romans, the 
Teutonic race. 

The conspicuous characteristics of modern Christianity. 

'A difference of opinion among modern Christians. 

The prospect for the future. 

III. A Bird's-eye View of Christian Church History. 

It is important now to take a general view of the course 
we have covered thus far, and make distinct to ourselves 
the chief points of progress in the understanding of the 
teaching of Jesus in the different periods of the history 
of the Church. 

The teaching of Jesus as the seed of all later growth. 

The kingdom of God is in the foreground. It consists 
of those who do God's will. This will is that men love 
and help one another : that their conduct shall spring from 
the state of their hearts and not from a fixed set of ex- 
ternal rules and laws. The essential virtues are sincerity, 
humility, mercy, truth, righteousness and love. 

The doctrines concerning Jesus himself, concerning 
God's being and nature, are left in the background. Jesus 
gave no explanations, no logical or systematic exposition, 
no defense. 

Period I. Hebrew, Apostolic, 30-70 a. d. 

(a) The teachings are simple, declarative, positive. 
The followers of Jesus are zealous and courageous. 

(b) Jesus is thought of as risen and sitting at the right 
hand of God. The foreground of apostolic teaching is 
held by doctrines concerning the person of Jesus and loy- 
alty to him. Unhesitating obedience to his teachings is 
assumed as a matter not to be disputed. There is no de- 
tailed teaching concerning the kingdom of God. 

70 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

(c) In this period we have the first discussion of the 
nature of the person of Jesus. 

(d) The early Christians discover that Christianity is 
universal in its applicability to all nations. 

Period II. Greek, 70-400 a. d. 

(a) Christianity makes wide gains among the nations 
and becomes a power in the world. 

(b) This period is characterized by philosophical dis- 
cussions as to the nature of God and of the person of 
Christ. Doctrines concerning these subjects fill the fore- 
ground of the thought of the period. This is the great 
creed-making era of the Church. 

(c) Emphasis is gradually removed from the moral re- 
quirements of Jesus' teaching, and laid on correctness of 
intellectual belief. 

Period III. Roman, 400-1400 a. d. 

(a) In this period is completed the organization of the 
churches and their division into two branches, the 
Oriental churches and the Roman Catholic Church. 

(b) The ideas concerning the kingdom of God and the 
conception of the Roman Empire are both modified and 
are combined into one. This is followed by corresponding 
changes in prevailing conceptions of God, the Church, 
salvation, etc. 

(c) Ecclesiasticism, sacerdotalism, asceticism and cere- 
monialism rise into prominence and displace the spiritual 
teachings of Jesus. 

Period IV. North European, 1400-1648 a. d. 

(a) This period witnessed the development of individ- 
ualism ; that is, the right and value and duty of individual 

7i 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



judgment and action; and also, the beginning of demo- 
cratic ideas. 

(b) Vital religion is recovered through the assertion of 
salvation by faith apart from the observance of churchly, 
ritualistic, ascetic, or sacerdotal requirements, or the ac- 
ceptance of traditional creeds. 

(c) Conscious effort is made to return to primitive 
Christianity as given in the New Testament. Emphasis 
is laid on the Bible as authority. 

(d) Protestant emphasis on individual liberty results in 
denominations and sects. 

Period V. Anglo-Saxon. 

England and the United States take the lead in aggres- 
sive Christianity. 

(a) Free Churches are founded. A conflict arises be- 
tween the Free and the Established Churches in England. 
In the United States, Church and State are both free. 

(b) Lay workers take an increasingly active part in all 
kinds of religious activity. 

(c) Genuine religious life springs up outside of eccle- 
siastical relations; great revivals of religion and morality 
are experienced. 

(d) The principles of Christian morality are increas- 
ingly applied to the social problems of the age. 

(e) Union movements for religious and moral purposes 
are undertaken by different denominations. 

(/) A more masculine and aggressive type of Christian 
thought develops. 

(g) The Bible is widely studied. 

During the nineteenth century the thought not only of 
the highly educated but also of the majority of moder- 

72 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

ately educated persons underwent a more revolutionary 
transformation than has ever taken place in human his- 
tory before. Science has given us a new heaven and a 
new earth. It discloses marvelous worlds, infinitely large 
and infmitesimally small. The earth now appears to be but 
a minute speck in the universe; it is no longer thought 
of as the center of all things, nor can man be thought 
of as the sole reason for the existence of the universe. 
The age of the earth is measured, not by thousands but 
by millions of years. Science throws new light on man's 
origin, history, and nature. Critical students of history 
have developed views of the facts of the past in sharp 
contradiction to those formerly held. These modern opin- 
ions have naturally come into conflict with traditional 
views because they necessitate either an abandonment of 
old beliefs or a radical reconstruction of them. Those 
who were educated in the old views defend them stoutly. 
This is natural and necessary. Others seek to find a 
reconciliation or golden mean, a compromise between the 
opposing views ; and these may be for a time satisfactory 
to some. To-day both sides claim the victory, and it is 
evident that the conflict is not yet finished. It would 
be out of place here to go into details or to express a 
personal judgment as to the merits of the case. It is 
enough to call attention to the fact that such a conflict is 
being waged; it is more advanced in Germany than in 
England, and in England than in the United States. 

(i) At one extreme are radical scientific rationalists, 
who seek to understand and explain everything in the 
heavens above and in the earth beneath by the principles 
of their scientific inductions. With them are the radical, 
critical historians who will accept nothing in history that 
is not supported by credible documentary or monumental 

73 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



evidence. They assert that the Bible does not differ in 
this respect from any other ancient book, and that it 
must be studied as any other book. 

(2) At the other extreme are the strongly conservative 
men who feel the importance of a religious life, and dread 
any investigation that may unsettle its foundations. They 
think that Christianity cannot live if it is separated from 
the body of opinions with which it has for centuries been 
connected. They emphasize the inspiration of the Bible 
which they believe is free from all error as to historical 
and scientific facts. They refuse to submit the Bible to 
the kind of critical examination to which other ancient 
books are subjected. 

(3) Between these two diametrically opposed groups 
is a mediating body of men who endeavor to hold to all 
the facts revealed by science and exact history on the 
one hand, and on the other hand they try to retain every- 
thing of religious value in the Bible and in the traditions 
of the Church. 

Each group, of course, thinks itself successful in its 
efforts. No one can understand the condition of the 
Christian thought or even of the Christian activity of 
the nineteenth century who is ignorant of this great con- 
flict. It cannot be avoided; we are in the midst of it and 
must try to be fair and intelligent in forming our own 
opinions. Which side shall finally win is certainly an im- 
portant matter. Whether this conflict is to bring a gain 
to Christianity, whether it is to result in the growth of 
the kingdom of God, depends, in the thought of each 
partisan, on the success of his party. 

The impartial spectator, whose trust is in God, whose 
faith is that God is controlling and guiding the affairs of 
men, has no anxiety as to the outcome. Truth will pre- 

74 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

vail. Truth prevailing means the further establishment 
of God's kingdom and rule of love. 

IV. Resurvey. 

i. Give the main points of the teaching of Jesus. 

2. What different truth is emphasized by the period of 
the apostles? 

3. In what respect did the Greek age depart from the 
simplicity of Jesus? 

4. Show how the Roman Empire influenced the Church 
in the Roman period. 

5. What contribution has the German race made to the 
modern Church? 

6. What are the prominent features of modern Chris- 
tianity ? 

7. Between what two opposing views is the modern 
Church divided? 

8. To one who has faith in God, what is the probable 
outcome of this conflict ? 

V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. All truth is Christian truth. 

2. Of what present use is a knowledge of the history 
of the Church? 

3. What contribution is the German race making to- 
ward human progress in this generation? 

4. Is there a present need for the work of the Roman 
Catholic Church? What work does it seem to be doing 
that Protestantism seems to be failing to do ? 



75 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



PART II 

GROWTH OF THE NUMBER OF 
CHRISTIANS 

LESSON X 

WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIANITY 

Bibliography 

1. Problem of Religious Progress, by Daniel Dorches- 
ter, 1895. Part IV. Chapter 5. Hunt & Eaton. 

2. The Universal Elements of the Christian Religion, 
by Charles Cuthbert Hall, 1905. Revell. 

3. World-Wide Christian Endeavor, by F. E. Clark. 
Gillespie, Metzgar & Kelley. 

4. Gesta Christi, by C. Loring Brace, 1888. Armstrong. 

5. The Cyclopedia of Missions, by E. M. Bliss, 1904. 
Funk & Wagnalls. 

6. Christian Missions and Social Progress, by James S. 
Dennis, 3 vols. 1897. Revell. 

7. Centennial Survey of Foreign Missions, by James S. 
Dennis (statistical), 1902. Revell. 

8. Medical Missions, by Sir Wm. Muir, 1886. Revell. 

9. Missions from the Modern View, by R. A. Hume, 
1905. Revell. 

I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

1. Try to form an impression based upon your own 
experience as to whether religion is advancing in the 
world. 

77 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



2. Talk with an old man concerning his opinions as 
to whether the world is growing better. 

3. Is it possible to arrive at the exact facts by experi- 
ence and conversation? 

4. Read the article on Statistics in the New Interna- 
tional Cyclopedia. 

5. What is the means there given for arriving at the 
large facts as to the progress of the race or of civiliza- 
tion? 

II. Lesson Outline. 

Christ's announcement of the purpose of his mission. 

The law of love. 

The "inwardness" of the Kingdom. The "outwardness" 
of the Church. 

The purposes of the visible Church. 

The membership in the Kingdom cannot be counted. 

It is possible to take a census of the Church. The use 
and value of statistics. 

The growth of the nominal adherents of the Christian 
Church to the present time. 

III. Growth of Christianity Throughout the World. 

1. Christ announced the purpose of his life and teach- 
ings in a twofold form, first, the establishment of the 
kingdom of heaven, and second, the saving of the lost. 
These statements, though different in form are really the 
same, because salvation from sin is the only condition of 
becoming a member of the Kingdom. No sinful heart 
can enter the Kingdom, even though it may have a white- 
washed surface. Being a member of the Kingdom con- 
sists in having a converted heart, that is, one in which 

78 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

love to God and man is the supreme rule of life. This 
law of love shows itself in various ways — in living a 
moral life, in sacrificing oneself when that is called for, 
in living the Christ-life. 

2. The kingdom of God, therefore, is no mere outward 
organization with a written constitution, a corps of office- 
holders, and a set of customs and practises, like a club 
or a corporation. The kingdom of God is not the visible 
Church. This is an important distinction to make. The 
visible Church has arisen because of the needs of our 
human nature. We need to make an expression of our 
life in Christ; the visible Church gives us the opportunity 
to do so. We need to band together to assist each other 
in serving our Master more effectively ; the visible Church 
enables us to be efficient. The Christ-life must be carried 
to foreign lands; the visible Church is the agent for this 
expansion. The Christ-life must be preserved in some 
way from generation to generation; the visible Church is 
the means for thus bridging the centuries. 

Those who receive the Christ-life associate themselves 
together to help each other, to spread the Kingdom, to 
maintain truth, to condemn error, to exclude hypocrites. 
This is the origin of the visible institution called the 
Church. But the kingdom of God is the invisible com- 
pany of all those who have Christ's love to God and to 
man in their hearts. It was easy in former times to con- 
fuse these different things, but in this twentieth century 
no such confusion ought to remain in our minds. 

3. It is impossible of course to count the members and 
measure the growth of the kingdom of God. No one 
could do that. The best we can do is to count or estimate 
the members and the growth of the visible Church. We 
must know that there are members of the Church who 

79 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



are not members of the Kingdom, and that there are mem- 
bers of the Kingdom who are not members of the Church. 
But, after all, it is the visible and imperfect Church that 
is trying more or less faithfully to realize the Kingdom. 
We may infer, therefore, that the best means at our dis- 
posal for measuring the growth of the Kingdom is to take 
the measure of the growth of the Church, and of the 
nations most thoroughly Christianized. If a general 
wishes to know the strength of his fighting force, he as- 
certains its numbers, though he knows very well that 
there are some sick, some on furlough, and some who 
may desert before the battle, and some who are thinking 
more of their pay than of the cause for which they are 
fighting. 

We can best estimate the nature and amount of the 
forces of Christianity by studying the organization it has 
produced, namely the Christian Churches, and also by ob- 
serving the effects of Christian beliefs on the moral and 
religious life of the nations in which they have produced 
their natural fruits. 

The figures soon to be given concerning the growth in 
numbers of the early Church are only estimates. His- 
torians are substantially in agreement as to their being 
fairly exact. The science of statistics is a modern one, 
and consequently the figures for modern times may be 
relied upon with great confidence as very nearly exact. 
By the aid of statistics one can obtain a broad and gen- 
eral view of great movements that would be absolutely 
impossible to one who should trust to his own vague 
impressions or to his conversations with others about their 
vague impressions as to how things are going. Statistics 
introduce exactness into the study of great movements 
like the growth of Christianity. 

80 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



In this lesson and in the lessons that follow will be 
presented some of the statistics of the growth of the 
visible Church. That growth will be presented in three 
divisions : — first, the growth of the Church throughout 
the world, and also the growth of Christian nations, in 
population, in power, in commerce, in wealth, in educa- 
tion, etc. ; second, the growth of Christianity and its re- 
sults in England and Wales ; third, the statistics of growth 
of Christianity in the United States. 

Comment on the meaning and importance of these facts 
will be given afterwards, but it will be impossible to fail 
to see with each set of figures and especially with each 
chart how splendid has been the growth and how bright 
is the prospect for the future. 

The Growth of Nominal Adherents of Christianity 
throughout the World to the Present Time. 



Century 


Number 


Century 


Number 


End of ist century 


\ millions 


End of 15th century 


100 millions 


" 2nd " 


2 " 


" 16th " 


12s " 


3rd " 


5 " 


" 17th " 


155 " 


4th " 


10 " 


18th " 


200 " 


8th " 


3o " 


1880 . 


410 


" 9 th " 


40 " 


1900 . 


477 il 


" ioth " 


50 " 







By the words Nominal Adherents is meant, not pro- 

81 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



100- 



200- 



300- 



400- 



500- 



700- 



900- 



l.OOOJ 



1000 


CHART II. 


-•1100 \ 


Illustrating the Growth 
of the Adherents of 


■1200 \ 


Christianity from 
A.D. 1—1900. 


-1300 ' 




•■1400 




-1500 


1100,000,000 


• ■ 1600 


\l25,000,000 


■1700 


\l55,000,000 


■1800 


\200,000,000 


1900 





477,000,000 



J 



50,000,000 



82 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

fessed Christians or church-members, but those who may- 
be said to have accepted the Christian standards of moral 
life, even though they do not profess to be disciples of 
Jesus. In this section the word Christianity is used in its 
broadest and most inclusive sense. 

The figures for the early centuries are, of course, only 
approximate estimates, but they are the figures generally 
accepted by statisticians who have made frequent and care- 
ful studies of the subject. 

IV. Resurvey. 

i. What is the kingdom of God? 

2. How does it differ from the Church ? 

3. What four main purposes are served by the visible 
Church ? 

4. Can you give the statistics of the invisible Church? 

5. Why cannot we get exact statistics of the early 
Christian Church? 

6. Under what three main heads will the growth of the 
Church be studied? 

7. How many nominal Christians were there at the 
year 1000? 

8. How many at the year 1900? 

9. What is the proportion of gain? 

V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. Within the range of your own experience what is 
the ratio between the membership of the Church and that 
of the Kingdom? 

2. Are there many people that are truly Christian who 
are not members of the Church? 

83 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



3. Does it seem to you probable that all the nations of 
the world will ever become nominally Christian? 

4. May we reasonably hope that every member of the 
human race will be really Christian? 

5. If the present rate of increase of membership in the 
Church should continue, when would it overtake the total 
population of the world? 



84 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



LESSON XI 

GROWTH OF PROTESTANTISM 
Bibliography 

1. Anglo-Saxon's Superiority, by Edmond Demolins, 
1899. The Leadenhall Press, London. 

2. Expansion Under New World Conditions, by Josiah 
Strong, 1900. The Baker & Taylor Co. 

I. Preparatory Suggestion. 

In your thought about the growth of Christianity 
and Christian populations, remember that the growth of 
one population at the expense of another is not accom- 
plished necessarily by warlike or cruel means. The peace- 
ful preaching of the gospel, the peaceful building up of 
character, the peaceful change of residence, are among 
the Christian methods by which types of life and of civ- 
ilization are changed. 

II. Lesson Outline. 

Comparative statistics of the growth of the Roman 
Catholic, Greek and Protestant forms of Christianity. 

Education in Protestant countries. 

Comparison of the populations of England and France, 
England and Spain. 

Growth of English-speaking populations during the past 
century. 

85 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



1J500 



C80m 



CHART III. 

Growth of Population 
under Christian Govts. 



A indicates Growth of Prot. Countries. 
B " w , •' Rom.Cath. « 

Q « « a Greek u 




1900* 



143 m. 



86 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



III. Comparative Growth of Roman Catholic, Greek, 
and Protestant Countries. 

i. The lack of accurate statistics of non-Christian coun- 
tries makes it impossible to compare their growth, century 
by century, with the growth of Christian nations. We 
therefore confine our attention to the growth of the popu- 
lations under the rule of the three great branches of 
Christendom. Their growth is given in the following 
table : — 



Year 


Roman 
Catholic 


Greek 


Protestant 


Total 


1500 


80 millions 


20 millions 


millions 


100 millions 


1700 


90 


33 


32 " 


155 " 


1830 


134 


60 " 


193 " 


387 " 


1880 


192 " 


no 


445 " 


747 " 


x i9oo 


242 " 


143 " 


552 « 


937 " 



1 The final figures are compiled from the World Almanac for 1906. The 
earlier figures are taken from Schauffler's Growth of Christianity. 



2. The accompanying table sets forth the growth in the 
numbers of those subject to the rule of Christian govern- 
ments. The striking feature is the rise of the Protestant 
powers during the past hundred years. 

According to a careful study of statistics the Roman 
Catholic countries of Europe are growing at such a rate 
that they will double their population once in one hun- 
dred and thirty-eight years, while Protestant countries 
will double once in sixty years. 

In America the population of Protestant countries is 

87 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



CHART IV. 

Illustrating the proportion of the 

school attendance to the entire 

population of the Greek, Roman 

Catholic and the Protestant 

jiations of the world in 1890. 



OF THE GREEK NATIONS 
2. 7% attend School 



OF THE R. C. NATIONS 
1 0.3% attend School 



OF THE PROT. NATIONS 
20.6^ attend School 



88 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



largely increased by immigration from Roman Catholic 
countries. The immigration from Protestant to Roman 
Catholic countries is quite insignificant. 

3. The accompanying chart (No. IV) renders the facts 
more impressive. These figures show how far in advance 
Protestant countries are in education and therefore of 
intelligence and freedom from superstition. The Prot- 
estant lands have thirty-five per cent of the population 
and sixty per cent of the school children of Christendom. 
Roman Catholic lands have forty per cent of the popula- 
tion, and twenty-three per cent of the school children. 
Greek lands have twenty-three per cent of the population 
and but five per cent of the school children. It is not 
then strange that it is the Protestant countries which 
constitute the energizing center of civilization. The sta- 
tistics have reference only to pupils in the lower insti- 
tutions of learning; in respect to colleges and universities 
also, Protestant countries are far in advance. 

4. For a more accurate study of the effect of national 
faith on national growth the following table and chart 
will supply the figures: 



Date 


France 


Great Britain 


1700 


19 millions 


8 millions 


1789 


26 " 


12 " 


1815 


29 - 


19 " 


1880 


37 " 


35 " 


1905 


39 " 


42 " 



89 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



1700 



1789 



1815 



1880 

] 



891 



CHART V. 

Illustrating the Growths of 
France and Great Britain. 



19 m 



FRANCE. 



26 m. 



1700 




1789 



1815 



8 m. 



- 12 m. 



- 19 m. 



39 m. 



THE 
BRITISH ISLES. 

35 m. 

42 m. 



90 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



France, however, is not a typical Roman Catholic coun- 
try, for it has long been in more or less open revolt 
against Rome and the pope. The Jesuits have for many 
years been excluded from the country, and infidelity and 
rationalism have found a home there. In January, 1907, 
the Roman Catholic Church was disestablished. This 
means that it is no longer supported by public money 
but by private contributions. 

A more typical contrast is that between England and 
Spain. When the "Invincible Armada" threatened to 
overthrow Protestant England, she numbered only about 
4,000,000 subjects, while Spain could boast of 43,000,000. 
Now Spain has but 19,000,000, and England, 43,000,000. 

5. Another way of learning the present relative size and 
recent growth of the various nations is by a comparison 
of the numbers of those using the various languages. The 
New Era (p. 62) is our authority for the first row of 
figures; Conturat and Lean (1903) for the second row. 



Date 


French 


Russian 


German 


Spanish 


English 




(1) 


(2) 


(3) 


(4) 


(5) 


1800 


31 millions 


30 millions 


30 millions 


26 millions 


20 millions 


1900 


5° :: 

(53) " 


25 " 

(80) " 


7o " 

(83) " 


42 " 
(45) " 


125 " 
(136) * " 




<4) 


(2) 


(3) 


(5) 


(1) 



1 An American estimate gives the figures in parenthesis. 

From this it appears that while French was used by 
the largest number of people in 1800, it is now fourth on 
the list and that English, which was used by the smallest 
number of people at that same time, is now used by the 

91 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



CHART VI. 

Illustrating the Growth of the 
number of those using the European 
languages between 1800-1890. 



I 2 

FRENCH: RUSSIAN: 

Boo 

31m. 



1900 
50 m. 



3 4 5 

GERMAN: SPANISH: ENGLISH: 




30m. 




70 m. 



20m. 



92 



GROWTH OF THE. KINGDOM OF GOD 

largest number. We should also notice the remarkable 
fact that the two leading Protestant languages of Europe, 
English and German, increased in ninety years from 
50,000,000 to 195,000,000; whereas the two leading Roman 
Catholic languages, French and Spanish, increased from 
57,000,000 to only 92,000,000. 

Not only as a matter of fact is English the dominant 
language of the world, but it is fitted to be so. The orig- 
inal Anglo-Saxon dialect has been enriched from a great 
variety of sources — Latin and Greek, Scandinavian and 
Celtic, Norman French and Latin French, have all con- 
tributed important elements; and finally, in consequence 
of the spread of English exploration, commerce, conquest, 
and colonization, it has come into contact with, and re- 
ceived more or less contribution from, nearly all the great 
languages of the world. English is to-day "the most 
complete language spoken by man." The dominance of 
the English and German languages is a fact of momentous 
interest; for the language and literature of these two 
Protestant nations are steeped in Christian, in Protestant 
thought. These two languages have been powerfully in- 
fluenced by the translations of the Bible into the speech of 
the common people. It is impossible to become familiar 
with the language and literature of either country with- 
out learning much of Christianity and even of the Bible. 
And this is peculiarly true of English. This is the lan- 
guage which is spreading over the world, the language 
which, according to the opinion of many, has a better 
chance of becoming the world-language than any other 
existing tongue. Several millions of Hindus and Afri- 
cans, and tens of thousands of Chinese, Japanese, and 
Siamese, have come to know and speak this language with 
considerable case. English is increasingly the language 

93 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



of diplomacy. In the negotiations for peace between the 
Japanese and Chinese, the English language was chosen 
as the best medium of communication. 

IV. Resurvey. 

i. Give the total populations in the Greek, the Roman 
Catholic, and the Protestant faiths in the year 1900. 

2. Which form of faith is most favorable to popular 
education? Which least favorable? 

3. Why has England gained population more rapidly 
than France? 

4. What was the relative position of the population 
speaking English in 1800? 

5. What was their position in 1900? 

6. Why is English adapted to become the dominant lan- 
guage of the world? 

V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. How does Christian character affect the growth of 
population ? 

2. To what extent is the growth of population a benefit 
to mankind? How is it in India and China? 

3. Can a nation be too widely educated? Can it be 
too highly educated? 

4. Show how the ruling ideas of a civilization are re- 
corded in its language. What would a people be which 
had no words for law, duty, home, marriage, religion? 

5. Does the spread of the English language mean the 
spread of English ideas and ideals? 



94 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



PART III 

GROWTH IN THE PRACTISE OF 
CHRISTIANITY 

LESSON XII 

CHRISTIANITY A MORAL LIFE 

Bibliography 

i. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Gibbon. 
Chapter 15. 

2. The Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism, by 
Uhlhorn, 1879. Scribner's. 

3. Social Results of Early Christianity, Schmidt. 

4. Gesta Christi, by Charles Loring Brace, 1888. Arm- 
strong. 

5. The Divine Origin of Christianity, by R. S. Storrs. 

6. History of European Morals, by W. E. H. Lecky, 
1905. Appleton & Co. 

7. Problem of Religious Progress, Part II, by Daniel 
Dorchester. 

8. Is the World Growing Better? by H. van Dyke, in 
Essays in Application, 1906. Scribner's. 

9. Practical Christian Sociology, by W. F. Crafts, 1907. 
Funk & Wagnalls. 

I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

1. Imagine the insecurity of a home if divorce might be 
had for almost any cause. 

95 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



2. Would one really prefer to live in slavery or to die 
free? 

3. Sketch a brief outline plan of an ideal society, or 
Utopia, in which everything should be as it ought to be 
to produce the best results with human nature as it is. 

II. Lesson Outline. 

The essence of Christianity is manifested in a moral 
life. 

The simple and pure lives of early Christians. 

Marriage sanctified by Christianity. 

Pagan practise concerning human life. 

The spirit of Christianity opposed to slavery. 

Result of that opposition in Europe and in the United 
States. 

III. Christianity a Moral Life. 

1. As Christianity is not primarily a system of thought 
but rather a moral life, so the measure of Christianity 
should be a measure of its practise rather than of its the- 
ory. In this regard also there has been growth during the 
Christian centuries. It is not asserted that the growth 
in practise has been uniform in all places and in all the 
centuries. We must admit that there have been periods 
of moral relapse, and that there are now parts of Chris- 
tendom hardly worthy to bear the name. Yet we think 
it can be shown that there has been, on the whole, marked 
progress in living the life taught by Christ, and that no 
age has made such marked progress as the present. 

The special merit of the early Christians was not so 
much that they worshiped one God, as that they lived 
earnest, moral lives. One among the five causes assigned 

96 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

by Gibbon for the spread of Christianity was the acknowl- 
edged superior morality of their lives. 

2. The younger Pliny in a letter to the Emperor Trajan 
concerning the Christians in his province of Bithynia in 
a. d. 104, writes as follows: "They affirmed that the whole 
of their guilt, or their error, was, that they met on a stated 
day before it was light, and addressed a form of prayer 
to Christ as to a divinity, binding themselves by a solemn 
oath, not for the purpose of any wicked design, but never 
to commit any fraud, theft, or adultery, never to falsify 
their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called 
on to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to 
separate, and then reassemble, to eat in common a harm- 
less meal." 

3. The Andover professors, in their volume on The Di- 
vinity of Jesus Christ, speaking of the form of Christian- 
ity during the first centuries, say: "It is distinctly not a 
theology, but a life. It holds its truths not as dogmas, but 
as motives. It rests in a person, not in propositions. It 
is not concerned with philosophical questions, but with 
questions of character and conduct, with men and with 
God, with life here and hereafter." Professor Fisher, in 
his History of the Christian Church, says : "The surprising 
effect of Christianity in reforming the lives of men is 
amply attested by Christian writers. Justin Martyr, in 
an eloquent passage, dwells on the fact that slaves of 
sensuality have become pure in morals ; the avaricious 
and miserly freely give to those in need; the revengeful 
pray for their enemies. Origen inquires if the recovery 
of so great a number of persons from licentiousness, in- 
justice, and covetousness could have been accomplished 
without divine help. . . . The love of Christians for each 
other astonished the heathen. There was a truth in the 

97 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



gibe of Lucian, which the humorist himself did not un- 
derstand. 'Their Master/ he said, 'has persuaded them 
that they are all brothers.' The fraternal kindness ex- 
tended to strangers, and to Christians of foreign nations, 
occasioned special surprise. Hospitality and almsgiving 
were universal among believers. Collections were regu- 
larly taken in the churches for the benefit of the poor. 
When a pestilence broke out, it was noticed that the 
Christians did not desert the sick, or neglect the burial 
of the dead. They even took care of the heathen who 
had none to befriend them." 

We will now mention certain of the leading moral and 
social characteristics upon which Christians insisted, and 
which finally prevailed throughout the Greek and Roman 
worlds : — 

(i) One of the most important of these was the new 
sanctity of marriage. Among Christians marriage was 
believed to be ordained of God and therefore a holy in- 
stitution; licentiousness and adultery were absolutely for- 
bidden, and divorce, except for adultery, was not allowed. 
The sinfulness of lust and all forms of perversion of the 
sexual nature was taught by the Church. Among non- 
Christians, marriage was for personal convenience; con- 
cubinage a common practise; divorce extremely frequent 
and easy and for any cause. Sexual immorality was a 
matter of indifference to the established religions of 
Greece and Rome. 

(2) The sacredness of human life was another point of 
contrast between Christians and non-Christians. Human 
life has never been treated as sacred except among Chris- 
tians. Under the Roman empire, a master was free to 
kill his slave or even his children. When executed by 
law, the death of slaves was of the most hideous kinds. 

98 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

Infanticide was not uncommon. Gladiatorial shows were 
approved by Roman moralists. Ten thousand men fought 
in the Colosseum during the games of Trajan. Sometimes 
women fought, though rarely. Occasionally men were 
set to fight against wild beasts. 

To Christians, however, human life was sacred; neither 
slave nor infant could be killed by master or father. Sui- 
cide was sternly condemned. Infanticide was considered 
a crime. 

The influence of the two moral practises already men- 
tioned was enough to transform the whole social fabric. 

(3) Besides there grew up a practise, not required but 
voluntary, of contributing money as well as labor for the 
care of the sick and the poor. This led to the establish- 
ment of hospitals already referred to in the quotation 
from Professor Fisher, and to other forms of benevolence. 

(4) The giving of freedom to slaves was a movement 
which, though gradual, finally resulted in the abolition of 
slavery. The year 1863 witnessed the freeing of the serfs 
of Russia, and the emancipation of the slaves in the 
United States. By these Christian practises the ancient, 
social and industrial structure of pagan Europe became 
in time wholly transformed. These new principles and 
social customs sprang from the life of the early Chris- 
tians, were the natural expression of renewed hearts, 
hearts filled with love to God and man, and were the 
application of Christ's teachings to practical life. When 
theological discussions arose and became bitter, and later 
when the Church wielded great secular power and its 
offices were filled with men more ambitious than right- 
eous, even then the real life of the Church remained as 
before in the moral living of the common members. 
Throughout the so-called Dark Ages there were in the 

99 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



churches countless faithful men and women, whose lives 
were hid with Christ in God. The moral energy cul- 
minating in the Reformation of the sixteenth century was 
not due simply to the appearance of a few gifted leaders 
like Luther and Calvin. It was the result rather of the 
moral earnestness of tens of thousands of spiritual men 
and women who drew their life from Christ, and who 
grieved over the low moral life of the rulers and officers 
in the visible Church. But for these common people, 
living their God-inspired, Christian lives, the teachings 
of Christ, and even the Church itself, would have per- 
ished long ago. But for them, the appearance of the 
great spiritual leaders would have been impossible. The 
real vital power of the Church has never been shown so 
much in its intellectual efforts, in its creeds, in its or- 
ganizations, as in the moral life of its believers. This 
moral, spiritual life has ever been gaining more and more 
power. It has had a long, deadly struggle with fleshly 
lusts, with defective views, with oppressive church organ- 
izations, and with intellectualism. But it has more and 
more gained the victory over these. The spiritual life 
has been growing. This growth has not been uniform. 
It has resembled the incoming ocean tide, wave upon 
wave; some waves larger and some smaller, with more 
or less of a relapse between the successive waves; yet' 
the tide of the Christ-inspired life has continued to rise 
throughout the ages. Those who wish to know the low 
ebb of moral life after the Reformation will do well to 
study the first three or four chapters of Dorchester's 
Problem of Religious Progress, or any of the recent his- 
tories of England. But the general fact may be asserted, 
that great as are the moral defects, not only of the Chris- 
tians at large, but even of the clergy of Europe and 

ioo 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

America, yet there has been a great advance in recent 
times. Sin is rebuked as in no previous age. The stand- 
ard of practical living has been greatly raised. It is only 
ignorance of the past in its reality that makes some think 
otherwise. In the most recent times there has been a 
renewed emphasis laid on the necessity of moral life. 
The purity of the family, the sanctity of the home, the 
necessity of personal purity, honesty, kindness, and benev- 
olence, and the inherent value of human life, are all re- 
ceiving a greater emphasis than ever before. This new 
spirit and emphasis show themselves, not only in a gen- 
eral way in the lives of individual believers, but also in 
the fact that vast numbers of organizations have been 
formed for the more systematic spreading of Christian 
views, or performance of Christian deeds. This great 
modern movement springs from a better appreciation of 
Christ's teachings, from the desire more fully to obey 
them, but chiefly from a more complete possession by men 
of his life and spirit. 

IV. Resurvey. 

i. What was the chief merit of the early Christians? 

2. What did Pliny the younger say of their practises? 

3. What new value was given to marriage by Chris- 
tianity? 

4. Give examples of the pagan disregard of the value 
of human life. 

5. Did Christ abolish slavery? What has been the ef- 
fect of his teaching? When was slavery abolished in 
Russia and the United States? 

6. In what has the real life of the Church consisted? 

7. Why do some men fail to see the wonderful im- 
provement of the morals of Christendom? 

IOI 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

i. If the early Christians were noted for their virtuous 
lives, why were they persecuted? 

2. Upon whom do the chief misfortunes of a demolished 
home fall? 

3. Has a high degree of civilization ever been realized 
except as one class of society has actually or virtually 
subjected another class? 

4. What are the peculiar vices of slavery? How do 
they arise? 

5. Is the true life of the Roman Catholic Church in its 
membership or in its clergy? 

6. What improvements in the practise of Christianity 
have you observed within your lifetime? 



102 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



LESSON XIII 

FORMS OF BENEFICENCE 
Bibliography 

1. Religious Movements for Social Betterment, by Jo- 
siah Strong, 1900. Baker & Taylor. 

2. Social Progress, by Josiah Strong, 1906. Baker & 
Taylor. 

3. A Study of Social Morality, by W. A. Watt, 1901. 
T. & T. Clark. 

4. The Social Meaning of Modern Religious Move- 
ments in England, by Thomas C. Hall, 1900. Scribner's. 

5. Applied Christianity, by Washington Gladden, 1887. 
Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 

6. The Battle With the Slums, by Jacob Riis, 1902. 
Macmillan. 

7. Fresh Air Charity in the United States, by W. S. 
Ufford, 1897. Bonnell, Silver & Co. 

8. N. Y. Tribune Fresh Air Work, One Summer's 
Work, 1902. 

9. The Saloon Problem and Social Reform, by J. M. 
Barker, 1905. The Everett Press. 

10. The Liquor Problem, a Summary of Investigations 
by the Committee of Fifty, 1905. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 

11. The Temperance Problem and Social Reform, by 
Rowntree and Sherwell, 1899. Thomas Whittaker. 

103 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

i. Bear in mind that Christianity arose at a time when 
the Jews were a subject people. 

2. Some of the early Christians were slaves and most 
of them were poor. 

3. A religion adapted for such people would need to 
make provision for their special needs. 

4. Consider what characteristics of Christianity are spe- 
cially adapted to the poor, the sick, the slave, the subject. 

II. Lesson Outline. 

Means of relieving suffering; hospitals of many kinds; 
charity organization societies. 

Societies for the suppression of vice. 

Temperance organizations. 

"Fresh air" movements. 

Prison reform. 

Juvenile courts. 

The Red Cross Society. 

III. Forms of Beneficence. 

1. We go on now to consider some of the ways in which 
the spirit of love and service is showing itself. It is of 
course impossible even to estimate the amount of small 
private unrecorded gifts, but they are many and their 
total must be large. Of the various forms of organized 
charities, it is possible to get an approximate statement 
of the sums of money expended. 

2. First we take up the means employed to relieve sick- 
ness and suffering. Charity was not unknown among the 
heathen; but the word acquired a new meaning from the 
"new command" of Christ, "Love one another." Free 

104 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

hospitals have received a remarkable development in mod- 
ern times. Every city and many towns have their hos- 
pitals, one or more according to their needs. There are 
special hospitals for the eye and ear, for the throat, for 
cancer, for consumption; hospitals for men, for women, 
for children, and sometimes for pet animals. In New 
York and Brooklyn there are one hundred and thirty-eight 
such institutions. There are also various asylums for in- 
curable invalids or for unfortunates of various kinds, — 
the insane, the decrepit, orphans, foundlings, the aged and 
the helpless. The Roman Catholic Church is especially 
forward in sending nurses who freely visit the sick and the 
poor in their homes. There are homes for truant and 
wayward boys and girls, for intemperate men, for intem- 
perate women, etc. In the boroughs of Manhattan and 
the Bronx of Greater New York there are one hundred 
and fifty-two "homes," asylums, and other institutions of 
the sort. 

3. In order that the work of charity may not be dupli- 
cated, and that it may not result in creating a spirit of 
dependence, Charity Organization Societies have sprung 
up throughout England, America and Germany. These 
organizations have facilities for investigating cases, keep- 
ing records, and sometimes of supplying food and work. 
It has been estimated that excluding all national, state or 
municipal appropriations, all regular church and mission- 
ary gifts, and all items of less than $5000, there was spent 
in private charities in the year 1903, $95,000,000. 

4. Various societies for the prevention and the suppres- 
sion of vice must be named. The George Jr. Republic 
gives to wayward boys an opportunity to acquire civic 
and personal virtue by means of self-government in a 
model republic in the country. 

105 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



Mr. Anthony J. Comstock has been recently praised by 
the Post-office Department for having done a necessary- 
work in suppressing obscene pictures and books, the places 
and implements of gambling, etc. 

5. Temperance agitation has had a long and noble his- 
tory in modern times. It seeks to dissuade men from 
drinking, to reform the intemperate, and especially to edu- 
cate the young in temperance principles. Under the lead 
of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, laws re- 
quiring temperance education in the public schools have 
been passed in all the states of the Union, in Chile, 
Sweden, and some of the provinces of Canada. The 
fruits of this education will be harvested in the future. 

6. In the following table, compiled from facts furnished 
by the National Temperance Society, may be seen the 
present condition of things relative to the saloon evil. 
This represents great gains over the conditions in former 
years. 

The Prohibition Territory of the United States in 1008 



State 


No. of 
coun- 
ties (c.) 
or town- 
ships (t) 


Under 
some 
form of 
Prohi- 
bition 


Not 
under 
Prohi- 
bition 


Remarks 


Alabama 


66c. 
75 c. 
58 c. 


27 c. 
60 c. 
5 c. 


39C. 
15c. 
53C. 


Parts of the 39 are dry. 




Parts of the 15 are dry. 
Much dry territory in the 53. 
Local-option law secured 1907. 




168 1. 


97 1. 


71 1. 


A few dry towns only. 


Florida 


45 c. 
146 c. 


30 c. 
130 c. 


15 c. 

16 c. 






State prohibition took effect Jan. 


Idaho 


1, 1908. 
No prohibition. 


Illinois 


102 c. 

1,016 1. 

99 c. 


4C 

710 t. 

65 c. 


98 c. 

306 t. 

34C 


About 200 towns dry. 


Indiana 


3 dry counties. 


Iowa 


11 counties more have 1 saloon 




each. 
State prohibition. 
18 of the 22 partly dry. All closed 

Sunday. 
Many dry or partly dry parishes. 




119 c. 

1 59C 


97C 


22 C 



106 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



The Prohibition Territory of the United States in 1908 



State 


No. of 
coun- 
ties (c.) 
ortown- 
ships(t) 


Under 
some 
form of 
Prohi- 
bition 


Not 
under 
Prohi- 
bition 


Remarks 










State prohibition. 

A few dry counties. License 


Massachusetts . . . 


23 c. 

About 

35° t. 


14 c. 

About 
250 1. 


9c. 

About 
loot. 










counties cannot have no-license 

towns. 
Has 23 prohibition municipalities. 
Prohibition probably coming. 




75 c. 
115 c. 


68 c. 
57 c 


7C 

58 c. 




No dry territory. 
No dry territory. 




Village 
and city 
option 


About 
400 t. 


About 
600 t. 


New Hampshire . 








License and local option. About 










62 per cent. dry. 
Defective local option. 








About 
300 1. 




North Carolina . . 






Nearly all dry. Prohibition 

probably coming. 
Prohibition. 


North Dakota. . . . 








Ohio 


i,376 t. 
33 c. 


1,140 1. 
12 c. 


236 1. 
21 c. 


Much dry territory in license 

cities. 
Many dry villages in the 21 c. 
Prohibition after Sept. 17, 1907. 
License. A few dry towns. 
Villages and cities 16 dry out of 

58. 
In transition. Prohibition prob- 






















South Carolina .. 








South Dakota 








able. 
Dry in sections. 










Dry except 4 cities. Prohibition 


Texas 


249 c. 


147 c. 


47 c 


probable. 
55 c. partly dry. 
License. 


Utah 










Dry except 24 cities and villages. 
Rural sections all dry. 


















License. 50 dry towns. 


West Virginia .. 


55C 


30 c. 

About 

650 1. 


25 c. 


Arizona 




License. 










License. 



The table shows 7 States with practically no prohibition, 4 States wholly 
prohibition, and 18 States, some of them among the largest in population, 
that are more than half prohibition, while some are almost without saloons. 



107 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



7. The application of the spirit of Christ to modern 
needs is manifested in still other ways. Summer outings 
in the country are provided for poor city children. All 
day excursions on the sea are given to working girls, poor 
mothers, sick children. In London such work is carried 
on by the "Children's Holiday Society"; in New York by 
the Tribune Fresh Air Fund, and by other organizations. 

8. Prison reform is the object of the successful efforts 
of still other societies. The purpose of prison discipline is 
now no longer the punishment of the guilty, but the pro- 
tection of society and the reformation of the lawbreaker. 
Mrs. Ballington Booth devotes herself to the needs of 
discharged prisoners, out of work and in great peril of 
returning to their former irregular lives. 

Under the personal leadership of Judge Ben B. Lindsey 
of Denver, Colorado, special courts with methods adapted 
to the needs of young boys have been established in some 
of the cities. In many cases a warning is all that is 
needed. Sometimes a probation officer (women for girls) 
is appointed to keep a friendly watch over these young 
offenders. To be sent to a reform school may be the 
worst thing possible. 

9. The Red Cross Society is devoted to the care of 
sick and wounded soldiers, of friend and foe alike, and 
has reached a new stage of efficiency through its recent 
reorganization. 

10. Many men employing large numbers of men and 
women provide means for their social, intellectual and 
moral welfare, — suitable homes, healthful surroundings, 
education, amusement, churches and libraries, etc. Le- 
claire, near St. Louis, is a model town built by Mr. N. O. 
Nelson for the use of his employees in whose interest also 
he conducts his business of wholesale plumbing. 

108 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

ii. Social Settlements are a characteristic form of mod- 
ern beneficence. The first settlement was given life by 
Arnold Toynbee in London in the year 1885. There are 
now in the United States alone more than 115 such organ- 
izations, with more than 837 resident workers, and 4000 
others aiding in the work. These report more than 1568 
clubs, 1502 classes, including 55,000 different persons. 

12. The endowment of schools connected with the Church 
is an ancient practise. This movement has reached a 
very high point of generosity. Large sums have been 
provided for the founding of universities. The following 
is a statement of the financial foundations of the leading 
universities of the United States. 

Girard College $22,000,000 

Columbia University 21,000,000 

Harvard University 20,000,000 

Leland Stanford 18,000,000 

Chicago University 13,000,000 

Cornell University 8,500,000 

Yale University 8,000,000 

13. The gifts of Andrew Carnegie for the erection of 
public library buildings amount to many millions. 

There are in the United States 6800 libraries with 
more than 54,000,000 volumes. These are the people's 
university. 

Mrs. Russell Sage, in the year 1907, established the 
Sage foundation of $10,000,000 for social betterment. 

In 1909 John Stewart Kennedy bequeathed $26,000,000 
for religious, educational and missionary purposes. 

The total public benefactions in the United States dur- 
ing the year 1909 were $141,250,000, an amount just $40- 
000,000 greater than any previous year in the history of 

109 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



the country, according to statistics compiled by a New 
York newspaper. 

IV. Resurvey. 

i. In what lands are nurses and hospitals found? 
Why? 

2. For what classes of unfortunates are homes and 
asylums provided? 

3. What particular form of beneficence is for the chil- 
dren of the poor in cities ? 

4. Explain how the George Jr. Republic develops self- 
control. 

5. In what countries is scientific temperance instruction 
compulsory ? 

6. What is the work of the Red Cross Society? 

7. What do some Christian men do for their employees ? 

8. What is the purpose of the social settlement? 

9. What is the total endowment of the seven largest 
universities in the United States? 

10. Of what special use are libraries ? 

V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. Is the work of Christianity in saving the lives of 
the poor and weak of real benefit to the human race? 

2. Would the death of the unfit and the "survival of the 
fittest" be better, on the whole? 

3. Can children who grow up in the slums be held re- 
sponsible for their characters? 

4. Has temperance instruction in the public schools 
been wisely conducted? 

5. Ought every boy and girl to have the opportunity of 
studying at a university? 

6. Has Mr. Carnegie been wise in putting so many mil- 
lions into library buildings? 

no 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



LESSON XIV 

FORMS OF BENEFICENCE (continued) 
Bibliography 

The same references as for the preceding lesson. Also: 

1. Geography and Atlas of Protestant Missions, by 
H. P. Beach, 1901. Student Volunteer Movement. 

2. Christian Missions and Social Progress, by James S. 
Dennis, 1897. 2 vols. Revell. 

3. India's Problems, by J. P. Jones, 1903. Revell. 

4. The Evangelization of the World in This Generation, 
by John R. Mott, 1901. Student Volunteer Movement. 

5. Missionary Principles and Practice, by Robert E. 
Speer, 1902. Revell. 

6. Outline of a History of Protestant Missions, Gustav 
Warneck, 1901. Revell. 

7. Christianity and the Progress of Man, by W. D. 
Mackenzie, 1899. Revell. 

I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

1. What considerations lead people to give away money 
that they might spend on themselves, money that they 
have earned with great effort? Look up the etymology 
of the word sympathy. 

2. Consider the success that a band of Confucianist mis- 
sionaries would have if they should attempt to make con- 
verts in this land. 

ill 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



II. Lesson Outline. 

Large gifts for charities in London; gifts for "public 
purposes" in the United States. 

Forms of beneficence not known in preceding centu- 
ries. 

The missionary movement of the nineteenth century. 
Large gifts to missions in the United States, and in all 
Protestant lands. 

The missionaries employed, the converts won. 

III. Additional Forms of Beneficence. 

i. In all the varieties of institutions mentioned in the 
preceding lesson the prominent aim is benevolence, either 
in the relief of suffering or in the providing of better sur- 
roundings. The sums of money that are yearly spent in 
the support of these many kinds of work and of organ- 
ization are incalculable. It is impossible to gain even an 
approximate estimation of the amount; it must be many 
millions of dollars annually. But more important than 
the money are the purpose and aim, the wide variety of 
work, and the truly Christian spirit of personal sacri- 
fice, of love to God and man, from which these deeds 
arise. 

Howe's Directory of the Metropolitan Charities of Lon- 
don gives a list of over a thousand charity organizations. 
Their incomes for a few periods are noted on the next 
page. They furnish material for encouragement. 

Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia for a few years past has 
published a list of all "notable bequests for public pur- 
poses of $5000 each and upwards." "It excludes the or- 
dinary denominational contributions for educational and 
benevolent purposes, and State and municipal appropria- 
tions to public and sectarian institutions." None of the 

112 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



Income of the Metropolitan Charities of London 





No. of 

Societies 

Reporting 

Income 


Income 
Reported 


For Home and 
Foreign Missions. 1 


1875 

1882 

1 

. 1888 

1 1894 


1050 

1003 

1027 

961 


£4,114,849 

4,313,275 
5,063,137 

5j484,3oi 


£1,340,221 
1,534,238 
1,807,177 
2,007,303 



1 The figures in this column are included in those of 
the previous column. 

millions contributed for home or foreign missions, or for 
denominational schools, or hospitals, or reform homes, 
or charity, are here included. Remembering this fact, how 
large the annual totals are ! 

1893 $29,000,000 

1894 32,000,000 

1895 32,800,000 

1903 95,000,000 

The total for the eleven years 1893-1903 amounts to 
$610,410,000. 



The charitable bequests of England for the year 1903 
of sums of $50,000 and upward, amounted to $7,885,700. 

The sum total of public and charitable bequests for the 
year 1906 in the United States was $100,000,000. 

The greater number of these benevolent works are the 
product of a modern movement in the Christian Church. 

113 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



Hospitals, care of strangers, and nursing of the sick, 
descend from early Christian times ; but industrial schools, 
college settlements, rescue homes, the Red Cross Society, 
and many kindred institutions, are largely the product of 
modern ideas. In these manifestations of the spirit of 
Christ in practical ways, we see the application of the 
teachings of Christ, a fulness of application that has been 
realized in no previous century. 

It is not asserted that all hospitals, all industrial schools, 
and all the various philanthropic institutions are sus- 
tained by persons who profess to be followers of Christ; 
we simply say that the doing of these things is the real 
application of the teachings and spirit of Christ, whether 
done by professed Christians or not, an application more 
full and complete than in any previous age. The rela- 
tion of the Church and the world to this movement we 
shall consider later. 

2. Christian zeal is nowhere seen more strikingly than 
in the great missionary movement of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, in which movement is embodied the desire to obey 
the final command of Christ, to proclaim his gospel to 
every creature. Beginning in a small way, at the open- 
ing of the nineteenth century, the missionary wave has 
swept more and more broadly through the churches, and 
has planted its workers more and more widely over the 
world. Among the islands of the Pacific, throughout the 
continents of Asia and Africa, alike among savage tribes 
and the civilized nations of the Orient, this missionary 
movement has made itself felt. The gospel has already 
been proclaimed in all lands and in all tongues ; the Chris- 
tian Bible has (more or less of it) been translated into 
more than 400 languages ; Christian books are being used 
by the thousand the world over; Christian hymns are 

114 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

being sung in every language; Christian schools and 
churches are springing up in every land. To effect this 
achievement, thousands of educated men and women, 
reared in the midst of the choicest civilization, have given 
up their homes, have left their friends and relatives and 
native lands, with their prospects and hopes, and have 
given their lives to the work of proclaiming the gospel to 
those who cannot, until they become Christians, under- 
stand the motives and ambitions of those who are doing 
this self-sacrificing work. 

This missionary work is not a new feature of Christian 
life; it is as old as Christianity itself. Throughout the 
centuries, even down to the present day, the Roman Catho- 
lic Church has had a noble army of missionary laborers, 
whose spirit and devotion we can but admire, however 
mistaken much of their teaching may be considered by 
Protestants. 

But the new missionary vigor that has arisen among 
the Protestant Christians, the large number of societies 
that have been organized, the immense sums of money 
raised for missionary work, and, compared with former 
centuries, the great influence and the rapid results that 
have attended the work; the world-wide nature of the 
movement, the vast number of peoples, races, nations, and 
languages that have come within its sweep, mark out the 
past one hundred years as peculiarly the missionary cen- 
tury. Those who have only a superficial acquaintance 
with what has been and is now being done, would be 
amazed, could they be led suddenly to see the facts. 
Scores of islands of the Pacific have been wholly trans- 
formed from cannibal islands into Christian civilized 
lands. The most promising and potent influences for 
morality in such lands as Africa with its savagery and 

115 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



CHART VII. 

Illustrating the Growth of the 
Receipts of the Foreign Missionary 
] Societies of the United States* 
$20,621. 



1820 



1830 



1840 



1850 



1860 



1870 



.1881 



.1894 



THE YEARLY AVERAGE 



$7.4,571/ 



$288,583. 
$508,792. 
$842,728. 
$1,307,412. 



529*000 



10,000,000 



\ 



T 



$1,947,738. 



Church-Members \ 
15,000,000 \ 



$3,414,645. 



1905 



$9,000,000. 

.The dotted line shows growth of Church-Members 
116 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

slavery, and China with its superstition, and India with 
its idolatry and caste, and Japan with its ambitious self- 
confidence and worldly enterprises, are Christian influ- 
ences. 

Some idea of the growth of the foreign missionary in- 
terest in the United States may be gained by a study of 
the following statistics of the receipts of its leading mis- 
sionary societies : — 



Receipts of the Foreign Missionary Societies of the 

United States 1 



•• ■ 


Total for 




Date 


Ten Years 


Average per Year 


1810-19 . 


$206,210 


$20,621 


1820-29 • 


745,7i8 


74,57i 


1830-39 . 


2,885,839 


288,583 


1840-49 . 


5,087,922 


508,792 


1850-59 • 


8,427,284 


842,728 


1860-69 . 


13,074,129 


1,307,412 


1870-80 (11 years) 


24,425,121 


2,220,465 


1881-94 (14 years) 


44,390.389 


3,170,742 


1906-7 . 




9,000,000 



1 See Dorchester's Problem of Religious Progress. 

In 1892 the sum spent by all the foreign missionary so- 
cieties of the United States amounted to $5,006,283. 

In 1906 the sum had reached the surprising amount of 
$10,196,000. 

The accompanying chart (No. VII) shows how much 
faster the contributions have grown than the membership 
of the evangelical churches. 

The Protestant Christians of the world spent for for- 
eign missions in 

117 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



1890 $12,788,000 

1891 15,663,000 

1893 14,713,000 

1907 21,418,000 

i9°9 23,655,000 

For these same years they sustained in the foreign 
field 851 1, 91 10, 11,450, 15,178 and 15,964 missionaries. 
The great increase between 1891 and 1893 is noteworthy. 

They employed more than 83,000 native workers, and 
received into the Church in one year more than 137,000 
persons on confession of their faith. These figures are 
an understatement rather than an overstatement of the 
Protestant forces now engaged in efforts to evangelize 
the non-Christian world. 

IV. Resurvey. 

1. What is more important than the amount of money 
spent in beneficence? 

2. What was the sum of money spent in London alone 
in works of charity in the year 1894? 

3. What was the total of notable bequests for public 
purposes in the United States in the year 1909? 

4. Do all these gifts come from members of the Church ? 
From those who have the spirit of Christ? 

5. In what different forms is Christian influence exerted 
in foreign lands? 

6. When did the last great revival of interest in for- 
eign missions begin? 

7. How much money is given annually in the United 
States for the work of foreign missions? 

8. How much was given by all the Protestant churches 
throughout the world in the year 1909? 

118 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

9. How many converts are added to the Church an- 
nually in foreign fields? 

V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. Can money be "tainted"? 

2. To what better use can ill-gotten money be put than 
to works of charity? 

3. Does an institution by accepting ill-gotten money 
condone the method of its making? 

4. If you had a million dollars what good could you do 
with it? 

5. If one is not generous with what one has is it likely 
that the possession of a larger amount would change one's 
character? 

6. Why is it not wise to let people of other faiths work 
out their own religious development? 



119 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



LESSON XV 
FORMS OF BENEFICENCE (concluded) 

Bibliography 

Teaching and Teachers, by H. Clay Trumbull, 1888. 
John D. Wattles. 

Yale Lectures on the Sunday-school, by H. Clay Trum- 
bull, 1888. John D. Wattles. " 

An Analytical Sketch of the Y. M. C. A., by Verranus 
Morse. The International Committee of the Y. M. C. A., 
1901. Jubilee of Work for Young Men in North America, 
International Committee of Y. M. C. A., 1901. 

I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

1. Make a list of the various elements of our popula- 
tion, and afterwards consider whether each element has 
an organization serving its moral and religious needs. 

2. Arrange these elements in the order of the difficulty 
of reaching them with the gospel. 

II. Lesson Outline. 

Home missions specially prominent in the United States. 

The great work of the Sunday-school. 

The Bible Societies. 

Organizations of various kinds. 

121 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



Receipts of the Home Missionary Societies. 
The Salvation Army. 
The Y. M. C. A. 

III. Still Further Forms of Beneficence. 

i. The missionary movement does not manifest itself in 
its labors for foreign nations only. Its activity in Chris- 
tian lands is even greater, and the results fully as assur- 
ing as those in foreign fields. By "home missions" we do 
not refer to the support of the home churches by their own 
members, but to the efforts of these churches to propagate 
the gospel in their own vicinities. Nearly all large 
churches now have their private mission churches and 
halls in destitute city neighborhoods. The active church 
has visitors for work among the poor and the sick, to 
administer comfort and charity, and to spread the knowl- 
edge of the gospel. The children of non-Christians are 
gathered into Sunday-schools. The number of these pri- 
vate mission churches and Sunday-schools is large. 

2. In addition to this form of home missionary work, 
there are the regular Home Missionary Societies of the 
various denominations, which carry on the same kind of 
work throughout the country. These are found especially^ 
in the United States. In addition to the regular societies 
for extending each denomination by founding new 
churches, and helping weak ones, there are societies for 
work among the various nationalities of immigrants; so- 
cieties for the establishment of Sunday-schools in desti- 
tute cities, towns, and villages; Sunday-schools which in 
time will develop into self-supporting churches; publica- 
tion societies, tract societies, church erection societies, 
parsonage building associations, societies for the educa- 
tion of ministers; each society doing a broad work in 

122 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

many States, and supported by the gifts of the churches. 
Thousands of ministers are supported by these agencies, 
who are pushing the work in its various forms; and there 
are hundreds of thousands of unpaid Sunday-school teach- 
ers who are interested in the work, because personally 
connected with it. The last accessible report for the 
United Kingdom (1904) gives the number of Sunday- 
school teachers as 674,123, while that for the United States 
and British America as 1,539,861. In all English speaking 
lands there are 262,000-^ Sunday-schools, 22,739,000-}- 
scholars, making a total of more than 25,600,000 engaged 
in the study of the Bible. 

3. Various auxiliary societies render invaluable aid to 
the home missionary work. The British and Foreign 
Bible Society up to the year 1906 had published 198,515,- 
000 copies. The American Bible Society in the year 1906 
issued 2,236,000 volumes. In a period of ninety years it 
has sent out 78,509,000 volumes. 

How clearly does this activity in the publication of 
Bibles and tracts bear witness to the folly of Voltaire's 
prophecy, a hundred and forty years ago, that "before the 
beginning of the nineteenth century Christianity will have 
disappeared from the earth" ! He prophesied of these our 
own times. Not only have his words proved a lying 
prophecy, but since that time the very room in Geneva 
where these words were spoken "has been used as a Bible 
depository; and Christianity has won the greatest, the 
widest, and the most glorious triumphs of her whole his- 
tory." Since Voltaire's scornful remark that the Bible 
would become an unknown book, it has been translated 
into all the leading languages of the world. The Bible, 
in whole or in part, is now to be had in over 400 lan- 
guages. 

123 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



4. Special mention should be made of several minor meth- 
ods of carrying on the home missionary work. In addi- 
tion to the various societies and organizations, whose di- 
rect and only work is the propagation of the gospel, there 
are many others whose methods are indirect, such as Boys' 
Brigades, Working Men's Clubs, Guilds and Brotherhoods, 
Literary Societies, Reading Rooms, Public Libraries, Sew- 
ing Circles, Athletic Associations, Temperance Circles, 
Summer Clubs, Homes for Working Girls, Homes for 
Newsboys, Homes for Bootblacks, and many other va- 
rieties of societies. As an example of this kind of work, 
look up the "Drift Children's Mission of London," de- 
scribed in Gulick's "Growth of the Kingdom" pp. 225- 
228. The aim of all such institutions is to give social 
life and entertainment, free from the usual temptations of 
the cities. Though prompted and sustained largely by 
Christian impulse, their direct work is not to impart re- 
ligious instruction; this is left to the institutions equipped 
for such work, namely, the churches, Sunday-schools, etc. 

Receipts of the Home Missionary Societies of the United 

States * 



Date 


Total 


Average per Year 


1820-29 .... 


$233,826 


$23,382 


1830-39 .... 


2,342,721 


234,272 


1840-49 .... 


3,062,354 


306,235 


1850-59 .... 


8,080,109 


808,010 


1860-69 .... 


21,015,719 


2,101,571 


1870-80 .... 


29,982,534 


2,725,685 


1881-94 .... 


51,402,640 


3,671,617 



1 Dorchester's Problem of Religious Progress. 

[For the year 1904 the total was $5,941,955.] 

124 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



CHART VIII. 

Illustrating the Growth of the 
Receipts of the Home Missionary- 
Societies of the United States. 



1820 



1830 



1810 



1850 



1860 



1870 



1881 



1894 



I $23,382. Average per year 



'.$234,272. 



i 

i 

j$ 

3,529,1)00 



' $306,235. 



$808,010. 



\ $2,101,511. 



-6^73t0Q0-\ 



■MjOOOtOOO- 



\ $2,725,685. 
-V 



\ 



$3,67l,6f7. 



Church-Members 
t5jO0O;O0fl \ 



\ 



$5,941,955 



1904 



•The dotted line shows growth of Church-Members 

-_ 2B,000,000 -\ 



12 q 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



5. The mere enumeration of the various kinds of societies 
and organizations for the evangelization of non-Chris- 
tians in Christian lands should convince any thoughtful 
person of the immense sums of money that are annually 
expended in the home missionary work. The statistics of 
the receipts of the regular home missionary societies of 
the United States are alone accessible. This is of course 
the smallest part of the whole sum thus expended. 

The accompanying chart (No. VIII) shows how much 
more rapidly the contributions for home missions have in- 
creased than the membership of the evangelical churches. 

6. Missionary activity is not confined to the United 
States; Great Britain is even more conspicuously active 
in both the foreign and home missionary movements. 
British Christians although far less numerous and also 
less wealthy than those of the United States support 
more foreign missionaries and raise nearly as much money 
for the foreign missionary work. Though naturally their 
distinctively home missionary work may not be so large 
as that of the United States, yet the Christians of Eng- 
land seem to be on the whole more awake to the religious 
needs of the large cities, and to be devising new methods 
of meeting those needs more speedily than are the Chris- 
tians of the United States. The Sunday-schools, the 
Young Men's Christian Associations, the college settle- 
ments, industrial schools, recreation clubs, and many other 
special modern methods of work are of English origin. 

7. The effect of these efforts for the spreading of reli- 
gion among the irreligious is wonderful. This is due to 
the nature of the religion preached; for the Christianity 
taught is not mere ceremonial and church attendance, but 
first and foremost, conversion, a change of heart and life, 
and the continued living of an honest, moral, upright life. 

126 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

None can become church-members without living a better 
life at least outwardly. As a consequence, the effects of 
religious beliefs are seen most conspicuously on the vi- 
ciously wicked. Certain districts of New York and Lon- 
don, once famous for their irreligious, immoral, lawless 
character, so lawless that it was not safe for peaceable 
men or women to pass through them, even during the 
day, have become wholly transformed by from ten to 
twenty years of continuous missionary work. This work 
has been done in the form chiefly of the Sunday-school. 
The testimony of the police to the value of the mission 
Sunday-schools and churches is convincing. 

8. But the most conspicuous moral and social work done 
for the lowest classes of society is that of the Salvation 
Army. By its peculiar methods and organization it has 
reached, and, in connection with other influences, is help- 
ing to transform, the vilest slums of the largest cities. 
It takes hold of drunkards and_ harlots, of thieves and 
robbers, and, by the power of Christian love and life, 
transforms them into respectable, honest, pure and trust- 
worthy men and women. "Probably, during no hundred 
years in the history of the world, have there been saved 
so many thieves, gamblers, drunkards, and prostitutes, as 
during the past quarter of a century, through the heroic 
faith and labors of the Salvation Army." This new move- 
ment, beginning in 1865, has made most phenomenal 
growth. Although in 1878 it could report only fifty corps 
and eighty- eight officers, in 1896 it reported 3727 corps and 
12,010 officers, besides hundreds of thousands of "soldiers." 

In 1906 it numbered 20,000 officers, had sixty-three peri- 
odicals in twenty-four different languages, 668 social re- 
lief institutions, 132 slum settlements, and from 200,000 
to 250,000 conversions each year. 

127 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



9. The Young Men's Christian Association supplements 
the work of the Church in many ways that the Church 
does not and perhaps cannot undertake. Throughout the 
world this organization has more than 7771 branches, of 
which more than 1952 are in North America. The total 
membership of these American associations is above 
437,000. They have 42,000 young men as students in their 
evening educational classes, and 184,000 in their physical 
departments. Their work takes special forms for special 
classes of men, e. g., railroad men, students, boys, etc. 

IV. Resurvey. 

1. How many people in Christendom are engaged in the 
weekly study of the Bible? 

2. How many volumes have the British and Foreign 
Bible Society, and the American Bible Society put forth 
in the whole periods of their history? 

3. Mention other organizations for social and religious 
work. 

4. How much money was given in the year 1904 by 
Protestant denominations for the work of home missions 
in the United States ? 

5. Why does England not equal the United States in 
this respect? 

6. What forms of Christian organization had their 
origin in England? 

7. How does the Salvation Army adapt itself to the 
needs of its special field? 

8. How many conversions does it report annually ? 

V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. The ways in which home missions and foreign mis- 
sions overlap in the United States. 

128 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

2. Why is there need for home missionary effort in the 
long settled states of the East? 

3. What ideas and methods could the Sunday-school 
well borrow from the public school ? 

4. Should the Bible Societies print the Authorized Ver- 
sion, the Revised Version, or both? 

5. Why should not the work of foreign missions be 
postponed till the home field is completely cultivated? 

6. What features of an army organization adapt the 
Salvation Army to work among the "submerged tenth" ? 



129 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



LESSON XVI 

CHRISTIANITY A NEW LIFE OF SERVICE 

Bibliography 

i. Quiet Talks on Service, by S. D. Gordon, 1906. 
Revell. 

2. The Battle with the Slum, by Jacob A. Riis, 1902. 
Macmillan Co. 

I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

1. Make a list of all the organizations you know about. 
Make a second list of all the classes of people you can 
think of. Which of these classes of people have no or- 
ganization specially ministering to their needs? 

2. Consider whether you are taking your proportionate 
part in the various organizations for Christian service. 

II. Lesson Outline. 

Many forms of Christian activity are of modern origin. 

Better comprehension results in fuller service of Christ ; 
for Christianity is not theory, it is the practise of a new 
life. 

Worship and morality are combined in Christianity. 

The power of the pulpit in its proper sphere is not 
waning. 

Many inconsistent evil practises. 

131 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



III. Christianity a Life of Service. 

i. Throughout all our studies we must recognize the 
fact that most of these forms of Christianity are modern 
in their origin. This is especially true of the home mis- 
sionary movement which has sprung up within the last 
seventy years. The same is true of England. In 1865 
it was stated that "special services for the working classes 
were hardly known in London before 1857." * The tre- 
mendous activity of recent decades is well known to every 
student of modern religious life. Here is proof conclu- 
sive of the great growth made in recent times in the ap- 
plication of Christ's teaching, and in obedience to his 
commands. 

2. Another significant fact is that the growth of this ac- 
tivity has been coincident with the growth in the com- 
prehension of Christianity. The truer the comprehension 
of Christ's teaching, the more vigorous have been the ef- 
forts to propagate that teaching, alike at home and abroad. 
The movement, therefore, does not draw its main strength 
from superstition; ignorance is not its tap-root. Though 
early in the nineteenth century, when the movement was 
comparatively young, zeal for the foreign missionary work 
was often stimulated by mistaken, and sometimes even by 
perverted views as to the nature of the non-Christian re- 
ligions and the conditions of the non-Christian peoples, 
yet enlightenment on these subjects has not diminished, 
but has rather increased, the zeal for the work. Never 
was the missionary enthusiasm so great as it is to-day 
in England and America, though, without doubt, more 
sober because of a century's experience. Never were 
there such large numbers of college-educated young men 
and women preparing themselves for the foreign fields, 

1 Religion in London, p. 20. 

132 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

knowing better than our grandparents both the encourage- 
ments and the discouragements of missionary work. The 
sense of duty to become a foreign missionary has become 
so insistent as to have developed a special organization. 
The "Student Volunteers" in the United States and Can- 
ada have been drawn from the 800 institutions of higher 
education in which their work has been principally done. 
Beginning in 1885, the movement has already resulted in 
sending 2953 new missionaries into the field. Over five 
times as many students in the colleges and fully twice as 
many in the theological seminaries intend to become for- 
eign missionaries now as did so intend when first the 
Student Volunteer movement was inaugurated. 

Other important organizations on behalf of foreign mis- 
sions are the Young People's Missionary Movement and 
the Laymen's Missionary Movement. Although still very 
young they have already accomplished much. 

Dr. F. E. Clark, in his address before the Christian 
Endeavor Convention in Boston in 1895, sa y s : "Nor is 
it too much to say that the aroused interest in world-wide 
missions among Endeavorers has done something toward 
furnishing the army of volunteers — six full regiments, 
each a thousand strong — who are eager to march for- 
ward into the enemies' country, to do battle for the Cap- 
tain of their salvation, whenever the churches shall fur- 
nish the 'sinews of war.' Ten years ago the cry was for 
men and women. That will never be again the unan- 
swered cry, I believe." He also called attention to the 
fact that these Christian Endeavor societies had during 
the previous year contributed $425,000 to the various for- 
eign missionary boards. According to returns pub- 
lished March 1897, 1200 members of the student volun- 
teers have already entered the foreign missionary service. 

133 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



The only explanation of these facts is that modern 
Protestant Christians love and believe, because they un- 
derstand, the Lord Jesus Christ as never before, and that 
they wish more fully than ever to obey his command. 
This love and belief have been aroused and confirmed 
by the personal experience of salvation from sin. Christ 
and his teaching are fully believed, not as a matter of 
theory but as the result of experience. There is a 
firm conviction, based on experience, that permanent 
progress — that of the individual as well as that of the 
nation — depends not so much on external as on internal 
conditions; springs not primarily from surroundings but 
from character. This is the teaching of Christ; and this 
teaching is seen to be true in the experience of every 
nation and individual. 

The missionary movement, therefore, is one not des- 
tined soon to pass away; knowledge by Christians of the 
high moral teachings of Buddha and Confucius, or the ac- 
ceptance of Western civilization by those who do not now 
have it, will not lessen the missionary activity of the 
followers of Christ. The acceptance by all nations and 
by all communities of the principles and truths of the 
Christ, and the change of character effected thereby, will 
alone bring the missionary movement to an end. For 
Christianity is not a mere moral scheme, an ethical sys- 
tem, or a system of metaphysical philosophy. It is a new 
life, a new power, which enters in and transforms man. 
Unlike the merely moral system, which considers sin an 
imperfection, arising from ignorance and bad surround- 
ings, Christianity holds that sin is not unripeness, but posi- 
tive defect, the cure for which is a change of heart. The 
fountain must be made sweet before the waters that flow 
from it can be sweet. It is this characteristic of Chris- 

134 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

tianity that differentiates it from every religion or ethical 
teaching, and that justifies its world-wide missionary 
activity. 

3. There is one more important method in which the 
growth in Christian practise is working. It is the char- 
acteristic difference between Christianity and all other 
religions, that it combines religion and ethics, worship and 
morality. The Christian Church is the only institu- 
tion that unites the institution for worship with the 
institution for the moral education of the people. In 
other systems and countries, the moral education of the 
people is left to philosophers and scholars. Since the 
establishment of the Christian Church, its most distinc- 
tive characteristic and duty has been this: the moral in- 
struction of the people. The point to which we now call 
attention is that never before has the Church been so 
faithfully performing its duty. The great moral progress 
of the present century may be traced directly to the great 
religious revivals. So closely have worship and moral 
life been identified by the Christian, and especially the 
Protestant churches, that they are now felt to be insepa- 
rable. The immoral man who worships is pronounced a 
hypocrite; for such a one, true worship is considered im- 
possible; immorality is irreligion, is atheism. This view 
of the relation of worship and life has made great prog- 
ress during the present century. 

4. There are those who think that the power of the pul- 
pit has grown less in recent decades. This may be admit- 
ted in a general way, without hesitation or even regret. 
Doubtless the pulpit has less influence in determining the 
views and tastes of the people on philosophical, scientific, 
literary, historical, and political matters. But this has not 
lessened its power in preaching the gospel, in demanding 

135 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



righteous living, in proclaiming God's love and the sin- 
fulness of sin. The rise of popular education, the develop- 
ment of social life, the ease of wide travel, the vast 
number of educated speakers and lecturers on all branches 
of political, historical, and scientific subjects, as well as 
the numberless newspapers, magazines, and books, both 
religious and secular, have all had more or less effect in 
modifying the prominence of the pulpit, as well as the 
methods of its work; but this I count not a loss but a 
gain. More than ever before, "the preacher is the 
teacher of righteousness. . . . This ethical function of 
the Christian ministry is not destined to grow less, as the 
social problems of modern life increase in complexity. 
... It may be said that the modern pulpit is character- 
ized by an increasing ethical earnestness. Social ethics, 
especially, attracts as never before the attention of the 
followers of the Son of man." * In carrying out its great 
work, the Church has adopted, and is adopting, new meth- 
ods of work. Hence have arisen the Sunday-school, the 
Y. M. C. A., the Y. P. S. C. E., the religious press, and 
all the varied forms of work mentioned in these lessons. 
The very growth of the Church itself in Protestant 
lands is a proof of its growing power in the ethical in- 
struction of the millions who support it. The large 
number of powerful preachers, evangelists, and con- 
secrated and educated laymen and women, who may be 
found throughout Christian lands in constantly increasing 
numbers, and the many hundreds of thousands who do 
some direct religious work, is at once a proof and a cause 
of the growing power of the Church, of the growing ap- 
plication of the distinctive idea of the Christian Church, 
namely, "the institution for the moral instruction of the 
people." 

1 Christian Ethics, by Newman Smyth, p. 307. 

136 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

5. During the history of the Church there have been, it 
must be admitted, many practises in and out of the Church 
that are wholly alien to the spirit of Jesus. Persecution, 
whether practised by Catholic or Protestant, is condemned 
by the spirit of the Master. The cruelties of the Inquisi- 
tion can never, we may hope, be repeated in any enlight- 
ened land. The burning of Servetus, of Latimer and Rid- 
ley, the execution of the Salem witches, are crimes for 
which all Christians are regretful to-day. 

But offenses still exist that are in need of correction 
and removal. Cruelty to children and cruelty to animals 
are under the public ban. 

The evils of child labor are receiving attention from 
many who love the Saviour of children. There are 80,000 
children under fifteen years of age employed in factories 
and mills in this country. There are 1,700,000 children 
in this country under fifteen years of age in regular em- 
ployment who ought to be regularly at school. 

The enormities of the sweat-shop are being ventilated 
and legislation is being invoked to relieve this inhuman 
system of exploiting human lives. 

The overcrowding of population is appreciated as a 
curse to our great cities. Such conditions offer oppor- 
tunities for service that are accepted by more and more 
men of heart, courage, conviction and efficiency. 

IV. Resurvey. 

1. What forms of Christian work were begun in the 
nineteenth century? 

2. Has the more perfect understanding of the work of 
Christ resulted in "cutting the nerve of missions"? 

3. How many Student Volunteers have been sent into 
the foreign field? 

137 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



4. What is the characteristic difference between Chris- 
tianity and all other religions? 

5. In what respects has the power of the pulpit waned? 
In what respect has it waxed? 

6. Mention some still surviving practises inconsistent 
with the spirit of Jesus. 

V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. Is ignorance the mother of devotion? What fact 
disproves it? 

2. What kind of devotion is bred by ignorance? 

3. What is the chief obstacle to the immediate spread- 
ing of the gospel throughout the world? 

4. Is it to be expected that multimillionaires will soon 
give largely to the work of missions? 

5. What are some of the good features of Confucianism, 
Buddhism, etc.? 

6. Is there need of any new organization to remedy any 
special evil? 

7. What are the kinds of work carried on by the Young 
People's Missionary Movement and Laymen's Missionary 
Movement ? 



138 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



PART IV 

GROWTH IN THE INFLUENCE OF 
CHRISTIANITY 

LESSON XVII 

CHRISTIAN TRUTH GENERALLY AND WIDELY 

KNOWN 

Bibliography 

1. The World's Parliament of Religions, 1906. 2 vols. 
Parliament Publishing Co. 

2. Christ and the Human Race, by Charles Cuthbert 
Hall, 1906. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 

I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

1. Read Christ's parable of The Tares and The Leaven 
(Matt. 13:24-33). 

2. Consider what secular institutions are doing essen- 
tially Christian work. 

3. Make a list of recent events showing that nations are 
practising the doctrine of the brotherhood of man. 

II. Lesson Outline. 

The work of Christ not limited to the Church. 
Not all in the Church truly Christian. 
Some Christians not in the Church. 
The influence of Jesus dominant in Christendom. 

139 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



Christian ideals shared by all. 

Society progressively transformed. 

Christians do not commonly claim to be perfect. 

The brotherhood of man taught by a Buddhist priest. 

This doctrine practised mostly by Christians. 

It is founded on the Fatherhood of God. 

III. Christian Truth Widely Known. 

The work of Christianity has had its results not merely 
in the Church but in the Christian community, even among 
those who make no profession of being Christ's disciples. 

i. We must again emphasize the distinction between the 
kingdom of God and the world, between those persons 
who feel the attraction of Christ's character and teach- 
ings and the need of his help in their daily lives, and 
those who do not feel that attraction or acknowledge that 
need. The former alone are true Christians; they are 
the salt of the earth ; they are its light. The latter, though 
members of the Church, are not Christ's disciples. Those 
who feel that personal attraction to Christ, and who have 
realized the personal salvation from sin which he prom- 
ised to all who should believe on him, spontaneously 
unite in his worship, combine to carry out his commands, 
try to organize their own family life, as well as that of 
the town, state, and nation, on Christian principles. The 
organic Church is, therefore, no chance structure. It did 
not arise by accident. Christ himself provided for it, 
though he left to his disciples no directions as to the 
details of its organization. The Church exists both for 
the sake of the individuals who constitute its members, 
and also for the sake of those who do not. But those 
who have truly imbibed the Christian life must feel the 
need of union with their fellow Christians, for their own 

140 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

self-preservation, for the preservation of the gospel to 
later generations, and for the salvation of those still be- 
yond the reach of Christ's influence. 

Thus, as a rule, Christians are members of some church, 
while those outside of the Church are not Christian. 
Ideally, all Christians should be church-members, and all 
church-members should be Christians. In the past there 
have been bad men in the Church, and doubtless there 
still are. But more common than either of these classes 
are ordinary Christians, imperfect in wisdom and knowl- 
edge and character, men and women who feel Christ's 
love and wish his help, but who have a daily struggle 
with sin and self. They constitute the large majority 
of the Church. With such members in a Church whose 
organization has been produced, and is now regulated by 
erring, short-sighted men, most of them living narrow, 
circumscribed lives, it is not strange that abuses arise and 
evils are tolerated; it is not strange that the Church, like 
its members, should be imperfect. 

This affords one reason why there are some who, 
though they feel the influence of Christ, yet hold aloof 
from the Church. They feel its defects, and the defects 
of its members. Instead, therefore, of being attracted to 
the Church, they are repelled from it. We admit that 
there may be many who are members of no visible church, 
who are yet more or less truly Christian; they love the 
Saviour as their Saviour, and strive to live lives con- 
formed to his teachings. How large the number of such 
persons is none can tell, for the reason that they refuse 
to associate themselves with their fellow believers. It 
is impossible to count them. Many though they be, it 
must be admitted that, however much they receive from 
Christianity, as a rule they give little in return. They 

141 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



generally fail to do their part either in preserving the 
gospel for subsequent generations, or in purifying the 
Church from errors of belief or practise, or in spreading 
the knowledge of the gospel to others less fortunate than 
themselves. 

2. The fact for us to notice is, however, that the influ- 
ence of Jesus extends beyond the church organization. It 
is dominant in Christendom. Not only do large numbers 
of those who reject the Church feel, love, and acknowl- 
edge that influence, but all, even those who do not so ac- 
knowledge it, or even recognize it, are under its power. 
The moral ideals and standards of Christendom are prod- 
ucts of Christ's teachings. It is true that these ideals are 
far from realized in life; yet none the less are they the 
ideals. The influence of Jesus is so dominant that none 
can escape that influence. And the reason is that it is as 
impossible for them to get away from their intellectual and 
social as from their physical surroundings. Though they 
may be unconscious of Christ's influence over them, they 
are nevertheless dependent on him. It is no more pos- 
sible for a man who lives in a Christian nation and so- 
ciety to escape this influence than it is for him to escape 
the atmosphere he breathes or the force of gravitation 
that holds him to the earth. He may be, and usually is, 
unconscious of these factors in his well-being; but they 
are none the less important to him. Speaking of the pres- 
ence in our Christian civilization of those who, though 
they outwardly decline to be called religious, or to ac- 
knowledge the power of the religious motives in their 
lives, are yet possessed by the "highest motives" and live 
the "purest lives," Benjamin Kidd says: "Once we have 
grasped the conception of our civilization as a developing 
organic growth, with a life history which must be studied 

142 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

as a whole, we perceive how irrational it is to regard any 
of the units as independent of the influence of a process 
which has operated on society for so many centuries. As 
well might we argue because the fruit survives for a time 
when removed from the tree, that it was, therefore, in- 
dependent of the tree." * 

Fundamental principles of life, unknown to the pre- 
Christian and non-Christian world, have become so thor- 
oughly accepted by Christendom, that even those men and 
women who pride themselves on their rejection of Chris- 
tianity cannot escape them. All who have a desire to 
live upright lives, must do so under the Christian standard 
of conduct. By the teaching of Jesus, the Greek, Roman, 
Teutonic, Gothic, and Celtic ideals of life, in so far as 
opposed to Christian principles, have almost wholly dis- 
appeared. The teachings of Jesus have reconstructed the 
ideals of life — of duty to our fellow men, of personal and 
individual rights, of devotion to truth, of the position of 
woman, of personal purity, of the sanctity of marriage, 
of the relations of God with man, and man with man, 
and of many other subjects; and, with the change of 
ideals, society has been progressingly transformed. 

3. What has produced this vast change? The teachings 
of Christ, we say. Yet it is to be remembered that it is 
not those teachings in the abstract, as a philosophy, nor 
as held by individuals. It is the influence of Jesus as 
preserved and handed down through the centuries, and as 
more or less successfully applied by Christian men and 
women banded together in various organizations, chief of 
which is the Church. It is the Christian Church consist- 
ing of narrow-minded men and women; it is the Church, 
under Jesus' leadership, that has accomplished what has 

' Social Evolution, p. 242. 

143 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



been done. The imperfections of individual Christians, 
or the defects of the church organizations, are not parts 
of Christianity. They exist in spite of Christ's teachings. 
They are indeed hindrances to the triumphant sway of the 
kingdom of God on earth. Much of the criticism di- 
rected against the Church, as well as against Christianity, 
proceeds on an entirely false basis. It assumes that Chris- 
tians assert that they are perfect. Without doubt seme 
few do. But the real Christian is not he who thinks he 
has attained perfection, but rather he who seeks it, rely- 
ing on Christ for help. Becoming a Christian does not 
consist in a miraculous, instantaneous attainment of per- 
fection, but it consists in a change in the direction of life, 
a change of aspiration and of will. Any criticism which 
ignores this fact must miss the mark. 

4. Furthermore, those who criticize Christians and 
Christianity found their criticism on the ideals furnished 
by Christ. But how came they by these ideals? By the 
Church, which alone has preserved them during the cen- 
turies, and spread them in Christendom. For ages the 
Church has insisted on the ideals taught by Christ. The 
more these ideals and moral precepts have been pondered, 
it has been seen that they are reasonable; that they are 
the foundations of good society, of firm yet free govern- 
ment, and of national prosperity. Many of them the non- 
Christian world has accepted, forgetful of the source from 
which they came. 

5. Were the facts available, it would be instructive to 
compare the benevolent contributions of professing Chris- 
tians with those of non-Christians living in Christian 
lands, and thus estimate the power of devotion to Christ as 
compared with its absence, among those holding the same 
moral ideals. For it is a fact that ideals alone are not 

144 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

enough; there must be some moral force to carry the 
ideals into effect. Christians assert that this comes by a 
personal attachment to Christ, by receiving the new life 
which he promised those who would trust and obey him. 
Such a comparative study is, however, impossible. But 
it is true that in all the great moral reforms and benevo- 
lent enterprises, Christians lead the way, and do most of 
the work. After the reform has made some headway, 
after the blessings to society have begun to be seen, men 
who make no profession of their Christian allegiance 
begin to imitate. • 

6. The doctrine of the brotherhood of man is now famil- 
iar the world over; every educated man, whatever his 
race, not only has heard of it, but advocates it. Even Bud- 
dhists, Confucianists, Brahmins, Hindus, and Shintoists 
do not hesitate to urge the doctrine. In the Parliament 
of Religions in Chicago, Rev. Shaku So Yen, a Japanese 
Buddhist priest, gained no little applause because of his 
vigorous presentation of the doctrine as the basis of his 
plea for international arbitration in place of war. The 
great democratic and socialistic movements of the day in 
Christendom make this doctrine their foundation. Be- 
cause all men are brothers, all are possessed of the same 
inherent rights, they argue, and argue well. But whence 
came this doctrine? Hinted at, possibly, by a few of 
the Greek philosophers (though Max Miiller says the 
word "mankind never passed the lips of Socrates, or 
Plato, or Aristotle"), it owes its existence and vitality to 
the teaching of Jesus, and to the practise of the Church. 
Though Confucius said, "All within the four seas are 
brothers," yet, as he gave it no living expression, it has 
remained a sparkling pearl among his teachings rather 
than a life-bearing seed. It has apparently had no in- 

145 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



fluence on the seclusion of the Chinese people. Until 
within comparatively modern times none but Christians 
have believed the teaching of the brotherhood of all men. 
An ancient satirist even makes it the butt of his jests. 
Non-Christian scientific men have scorned the teaching as 
a superstition. Every nation, ancient and modern, 
whether Greek or Roman, Chinese or Japanese or Hindu, 
until molded by the teachings of Christ, believed itself 
peculiarly descended from the gods, while other races 
were but chattering animals. Even within the limits of 
a single nation the various classes of society have had no 
brotherly thought for each other, have made no attempts 
to meet each other's needs. Only the Bible and they who 
have accepted it have continuously taught the brother- 
hood of the human race, and only the Church has suc- 
cessfully carried that belief into practise. Under its teach- 
ing and impulse all forms of benevolent and evangelistic 
enterprise have arisen, Gradually the non-Christian world 
is learning the doctrine. In Christendom, when Chris- 
tians have led the way and set the habit, many who 
make no profession of their Christian faith are doing simi- 
lar good deeds. And even in other lands the doctrine, and 
the practise, are beginning to find adherents. Surely the in- 
fluence of Jesus outside of the Church cannot be questioned. 

But the doctrine of the brotherhood of man is founded 
on the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God. Modern his- 
tory has shown that it is impossible for any length of 
time to hold to the brotherhood of man unfounded on the 
Fatherhood of God. Without the one doctrine the other 
becomes visionary and unpractical. 

The effects of these complementary doctrines are mani- 
fest in almost every department of life. Some of them 
will be taken up in the next lesson. 

146 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

IV. Resurvey. 

i. Is the influence of Jesus limited to the Church? 

2. How many true Christians are there not in the 
Church ? 

3. Is the average Christian perfect? Are any churches 
perfect ? Do any claim to be ? 

4. Does a Christian not a member of the Church do 
much for others? 

5. What has Christ done for the ideals of civilization? 

6. In what sense is the work of Christ universal ? 

7. Can one grow up in Christendom without being 
molded by Christianity? 

8. By what means has the work of Christ for the world 
been done? 

9. What is needed besides Christian ideals? 

10. Have the Chinese practised the brotherhood of man 
taught by Confucius? 

11. On what truth does the brotherhood of man depend? 

V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. Did Jesus live and die for the Church or for the 
world ? 

2. Did Jesus teach that there should be a sharp line of 
separation between the good and the bad in this world ? 

3. Did Jesus expect his disciples to be able to obey his 
command, "Be ye therefore perfect"? 

4. What are the ideals of Americanism? Are they 
Christian ? 

5. Is American diplomacy Christian? 

6. Is it fair for one to receive the blessings of Chris- 
tianity and not help to pass them on ? 

7. What does the doctrine of the brotherhood of man 
require of us more than we have yet done? 

147 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



LESSON XVIII 

CHRISTIAN MORALITY 

Bibliography 

i. Gesta Christi, by Charles Loring Brace, 1888. Arm- 
strong. 

2. The Arbiter in Council, Anonymous, 1906. Mac- 
millan. 

3. International Tribunals, by W. E. Darby, 1904. J. M. 
Dent & Co. 

4. The Peace Conference at The Hague, by F. W. 
Holls, 1900. Macmillan. 

5. Marriage and Divorce, by F. Adler, 1905. McClure. 

6. Marriage and Divorce in United States, by D. Con- 
vers. Lippincott. 

7. Reports of National League for the Protection of the 
Family, S. W. Dike, Auburndale, Mass. 

8. Reports of American Purity Alliance, 400 W. 23rd 
St., New York City. 

9. History of Slavery and Serfdom, by J. K. Ingram, 
Macmillan. 

10. Cost of War and Warfare, by E. Atkinson, 1905. 
Published by the author, Brookline, Mass. 

n. The Moral Damage of War, by Walter Walsh, 1906. 
Ginn. 

149 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

1. Read the first chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Ro- 
mans to get a vivid picture of what the heathen world 
was without Christianity. 

2. Do you know of any town without churches, or any 
district of a city churchless? 

3. In such places are marriage and human life consid- 
ered sacred? 

II. Lesson Outline. 

The sanctity of marriage, appreciated only in Christian 
lands. 

Immorality blights a man's political career. 

Only Christian people hold women in high honor. 

In America women have entered nearly all occupations. 

Regard for human life as sacred is peculiar to Chris- 
tianity. 

The emancipation of the slave is due to Christian feel- 
ing of the brotherhood of man. 

Arbitration is being substituted for war. 

The United States foremost in advocacy of arbitration. 

England and the United States foremost in its practise. 

The Hague Tribunal. It ought to have regular ses- 
sions. 

III. Christian Morality. 

1. The sanctity of marriage, the sacredness of human 
life, benevolence, the liberation of slaves were Christian in 
origin and practise, and became characteristics of Eu- 
ropean civilization, not because the Church became pre- 
dominant, but rather the Church became predominant be- 
cause its members practised these virtues. These customs 
and practises approve themselves to all enlightened men 

150 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

and women. If any doubt the origin of these moral and 
social beliefs and practises, let him question history. 
Where did the wife begin to be considered the equal of 
her husband? Was it in Africa, where every chieftain 
and man of wealth counted his riches by the number of 
cows and wives he owned, and where he could buy his 
wives in exchange for his cattle? Was it in Babylon or 
Egypt, or Greece or Rome, where, as in Africa, a man's 
wives or concubines were limited only by his ability to buy 
them ? Was it in India, or China, or Japan, where, under 
the teachings of Buddha, woman is considered to be the 
source of temptation, her birth a misfortune to the family, 
and, unless born again as a man, to be incapable of en- 
tering Nirvana, and where the family life is thought to be 
an obstacle to salvation? Excepting those nations in 
which Christianity has become predominant, marriage has 
been thought of as a means for perpetuating the family, 
for pleasure, or for securing domestic service or wealth; 
concubinage has been approved and practised even by the 
teachers of morality: divorce has been easy, and immo- 
rality a matter of course. Christianity brought in a new 
ideal; it was insisted on by the Church, and became the 
ideal of Christendom. To-day, not only professed Chris- 
tians, but even those who reject Christianity, hold the 
ideal, and in a large number of cases practise it. Con- 
cubinage has ceased in Christian lands, and divorce has 
become comparatively rare (though on the increase in re- 
cent years). Immorality is considered a cause of shame. 
This is the moral standard of Christendom, especially of 
the Protestant countries, England and America. In what 
country or age would immorality have been considered 
sufficient cause to blight, if not utterly to destroy, a man's 
political career?. There have been repeated instances of 

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late years, in which the imputation of such immorality has 
been sufficient to blast the career of distinguished poli- 
ticians, both in Great Britain and in the United States. 
These facts witness to the high moral standards held by 
the people in these nations. Such a thing would be un- 
heard of in any non-Christian age or people. 

It should be said that we by no means maintain that 
Christian nations, or even Protestant nations, have reached 
perfection in this matter. Unblushing immorality is to be 
found in every large city of Christendom. Many immoral 
men are successful in their political ambitions. But now 
as in no previous age immorality is a stain on character, 
and, when proved, is a serious obstacle to success in poli- 
tics, or to reception into good society. These high ideals 
of moral life are held not by Christians alone, but by 
nearly all ; and this is due to the influence of Christ out- 
side of the Church. 

The marriage relation is the foundation of the family 
and of the home, and thus one of the foundation-stones 
of the nation. That the teachings of Jesus have raised 
the ideals of marriage, and have made it sacred among 
many nations, gives some indication of the influence of 
Jesus even outside of the organic Church. And it must 
not be forgotten that these results have been secured 
through the agency of the churches. 

2. Inseparable from this conception of marriage is that 
of the estimation of woman. It is impossible to have a 
high ideal of marriage and a low one of woman ; and it is 
impossible to have a high ideal of woman and a low ideal 
of marriage. It is a matter of proof that Christianity is 
the source of the modern idea of the nobility of woman- 
hood. To be born a woman is not considered a misfor- 
tune, as taught in non-Christian lands; it is rather an 

152 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

honor. Whence has come this change of thought? Not 
from Plato, who proposed that women should be held in 
common. Not from Socrates, who, when conversing sub- 
limely with his friends about duty and death, seemed not 
to feel sympathy for his wife. She, in her distress and 
sorrow, came to see him in the hour of death ; but because 
it might trouble the serenity of the philosopher to see 
his wife and their children, they sent them away with 
scorn rather than cheer ! Not from Buddha, who aban- 
doned his wife, and taught others to do the same, saying 
that women must be reborn as men before they can hope 
to attain salvation. Nor from Confucius, with his per- 
mission of concubinage; nor from Mohammed, with his 
harem; nor from any savage religion or nation. From 
Christ alone came those influences that have resulted in 
elevating one-half of the human race from a bondage 
worse than slavery, to one of honor and power. It was 
Christ that revealed the nobility of the womanly virtues 
of humility and gentleness and meekness. 

In non-Christian theory as well as practise, woman is 
inferior to man. According to Brahminism a woman with- 
out a husband is soulless. It is the belief of the Hindus 
that it is better to murder a soulless (i.e., female) child 
than not to be able to betroth her. It is the belief of all 
non-Christian religions which aim for holiness, that 
woman is a source of wickedness and temptation; that 
salvation comes by refusing even to look at her. 

The Bible knows no difference in the nature of man and 
woman. Both were created in the image of God. In pro- 
portion as Christ's teachings have been adopted and his 
principles practised, have women received honor, educa- 
tion, and rank. Only within recent times, and even now 
not fully, have educational advantages been given alike to 

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boys and girls, and this is the case only in Christian lands. 
More and more it is discovered by actual experience that 
woman, though different from man, is not inferior. Since 
the opening of some of the English colleges to women, 
several women have wrested from men prizes of greatest 
honor, in mathematics, and logic, and the classics. Posi- 
tions in teaching, medicine, law, the ministry, the platform, 
the stage, as well as in business, trade, manufacture, are 
successfully filled by women. In some respects women are 
found to be more acceptable, because more capable, than 
men. Of the 455,000 teachers in the public schools of the 
United States in 1904, 341,000 or seventy-five per cent, 
were women. The United States census for 1900 reports 
29,000,000 persons engaged in various professional and 
industrial occupations of whom 5,319,000 or fourteen per 
cent were women. In 1900, 7387 women were practising 
medicine, 1000 were lawyers, 3373 were preaching. In the 
city of New York alone about 27,000 were reported in 
1893 to De supporting their husbands. This growing posi- 
tion occupied by women, and the growing readiness to 
grant her the position and work of which she proves her- 
self capable, is a modern thing, a product of Christianity. 
This admission of the equality of woman has in its turn a 
very powerful influence on the moral life of the people. 
The future moral development of Christendom is largely 
in the hands of women. When once they unite to sup- 
press the foes of the home, lust and intemperance will 
be checked. 

3. In the same way it is easy to show that the sacred re- 
gard for human life is an evidence of the wide reach of 
the teachings of Christ. When and where did the life of 
a common man begin to be counted of any worth ? When 
was it counted a wicked thing for a nobleman, a lord, or 

154 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

a soldier to smite or to kill the low-born or slave ? When 
or where did it begin to be counted a sin to buy and sell 
human beings? Not among the Egyptians, or Babylo- 
nians, or Greeks, or any Romans, or Chinese, or any non- 
Christian nation, not to mention the savage tribes of 
Africa or of the Pacific Islands. In all these countries 
the life of the high-born was indeed precious, but man 
as man, regardless of his birth or rank, did not differ from 
beasts of burden. In wars, the extermination of the en- 
emy was common and proper. Only those were saved 
alive who could in any way profit the victors. The mur- 
der of a slave was no crime under the laws of most an- 
cient nations. Crucifixion of the conquered by the victors 
was common. Caesar Augustus caused thousands of the 
soldiers who had fought under Pompey to be crucified. 

Caesar Augustus crucified a slave for eating a favorite 
quail. "Praetor Domitius caused a slave, who had made 
the mistake on a hunt of killing a boar at the wrong time, 
to be crucified as a punishment for his offence." Pollio 
gave live slaves to feed his fishes. Flaminius had a slave 
killed simply to show a friend the sight of a man in the 
agonies of death. When old and useless, slaves were 
either killed or allowed to starve. Moralists argued that 
it was more merciful to kill them than to let them starve. 
Slaves were mere "things, chattels, and no man who was 
a Roman citizen need care what happened to them." 
When the Roman empire was at its height, slaves were 
trained in the use of the sword, and made to slay each 
other in the amphitheaters for the public amusement. The 
most refined of moralists, and delicate women and young 
girls, took pleasure in such sights. At the celebration over 
the victories of the Emperor Titus, three thousand thus 
fought in Rome; ten thousand gladiators fought at the 

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games of Emperor Trajan. Even moralists defended the 
gladiatorial games. Domitian instituted a fight between 
dwarfs and women. Suetonius says it would have been 
cruel not to grant the request of Verona for a gladiatorial 
show. Look where we may, in ancient and modern non- 
Christian lands and times, the life of man as man was 
and is esteemed of little or no value. Murder was the 
chief characteristic of one of the religious sects of India. 
Everywhere and always, murder of the low-born has been 
common and almost uncondemned, and all forms of cruelty 
have been counted matters of course. The Teuton, Celtic, 
Gothic, and Anglo-Saxon races, before they became Chris- 
tians, were guilty of the same cruelty. 

What has transformed savage, brutal Europe into the 
modern, law-abiding, comparatively peaceful nations of 
to-day? What has made the life of every man safe, 
whether high or low ? What has put an end to the bloody 
gladiatorial spectacles, and made murder a crime, alike 
for king and peasant ? What has made the life of all men, 
in theory, and also largely in practise, of equal value? 
That Christians should accept this ideal is natural. What 
is wonderful is that all Christendom (except the nihil- 
ists), even those who reject the Church, and pride them- 
selves on their intellectual independence, hold the same 
views. Except for the Church and its centuries of con- 
tinuous training, such a marvelous transformation of Eu- 
rope is inconceivable. 

We by no means maintain that during these centuries 
Christians, even the official Church, have been guiltless 
of human blood. Yet such deeds are not the result of the 
teaching of Christ; they are the result of paganism still 
remaining unconquered in the Church. 

4. The sentiment of Christendom as to the iniquity of 

i<6 



156 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

slavery is now unanimous. There is no question as to 
what has produced this sentiment. For thousands of 
years, indeed from the dawn of history, slavery had 
been a recognized institution of Africa, Europe, and 
Asia. Slavery as a proper institution was not ques- 
tioned by ancient pre-Christian moralists of any race 
or religion. Slavery flourished in Greece and Rome. 
It has been estimated by modern historians that in 
the most brilliant days of Greece one-third of her 
population was in slavery, while one-half of Rome's 
millions were in the same state at the period of 
her greatness. At one time there lived in Athens 
400,000 slaves, but only 10,000 freemen — one freeman 
to forty slaves. How has it happened that to-day there is 
not only not a single slave in Christendom, but that all 
men are opposed to slavery? What has induced those 
whose very wealth depended on its continuance to give 
it up? *■ 

Christ gave no teaching about slavery, yet the principles 
which he taught involved its destruction as surely as sun- 
light drives away darkness. Only gradually the Church 
came to a realization of what Christ's teachings involved ; 
this depended on growth in comprehension. For centuries 
after the rise of Christianity slavery not only existed 
within Christendom, but was practised, and sometimes de- 
fended, by Christians. Nevertheless the Christian Church 
set itself against the evil; more and more Christians lib- 
erated their slaves; more and more did public opinion 
condemn the slave-trade and its defenders. At the cost 
of billions of money and hundreds of thousands of lives, 
slavery has been swept out of the United States. To-day 
the powerful motive, and the sufficient justification for 
the division of Africa among the nations of Europe, is 

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the desire to exterminate the slave-trade. If ever the 
military seizure of one country by another has been jus- 
tifiable, that of Africa by the nations of Europe has been; 
and it has already begun to bear fruit in the successful 
limitation of the dreadful slave-trade, named by David 
Livingstone, "the open sere of the world." For thousands 
of years the scourge of the human race, slavery, is at last 
on the point of extinction. In this, too, is Christ's in- 
fluence outside of the Church manifest. The kingdom of 
heaven on earth is growing faster even than the visible 
Church. 

5. Arbitration in the place of war is distinctly a modern 
development of Christian thought. It has been discussed, 
and has been actually tried on many occasions by those 
nations whose people are confessedly the most Christian, 
by England and America, and with marked success. 

The United States holds the foremost place in the pro- 
motion of this movement of civilization. The first arbitra- 
tion treaty was made by this country in 1794 and known 
as the Jay treaty. Since that time up to the year 1900, 
one hundred and seventy-seven cases of difference have 
been settled by arbitration, seventy by Great Britain, fifty- 
six by the United States, twenty-six by France, fewer 
cases by other nations, and none by Germany. 

In 1899 at the suggestion of the Czar of Russia, The 
Hague Tribunal was established for the settling of inter- 
national disputes without war. A second meeting was 
held in the spring and summer of 1907. Discussing the 
results of the conference, Mr. Foster said, "At the close 
we are able to point to substantial achievements. The 
creation of an international prize court; an improvement 
in the procedure for commissions of inquiry and arbitra- 
tion; prohibition of the employment of force in the col- 

158 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



lection of debts; the adoption of further regulations for 
the amelioration of both land and naval warfare; greater 
protection of neutral commerce during war; a step in ad- 
vance towards obligatory arbitration, and the establish- 
ment of a permanent arbitral court ; and provision for the 
periodic meetings of other world conferences of peace. 
It is a record of which every lover of mankind may be 
proud." 

Cardinal Gibbons brings out the fact that "in the one 
hundred and twenty-one years of our national life there 
have been twelve years of peace for every year of war; 
in seven hundred years of Roman history there were only 
six years of peace, all told." 

It is to be hoped that the meetings of The Hague Tri- 
bunal may be made regular, at stated intervals, and that 
all nations may consent to be subject to its decisions. 

So beautiful and reasonable is the theory of universal 
arbitration that all men without distinction of creed or 
race advocate its application. This is another indication 
of the wide-spread influence of Jesus. 

IV. Resurvey. 

i. In what countries is marriage regarded as sacred? 

2. What effect has known immorality on a man's public 
career ? 

3. What do women as women owe to the Bible and 
Christianity ? 

4. What degree of freedom do women enjoy in 
America ? 

5. Why should human life be considered sacred ? 

6. What is the cause for the emancipation of the slave? 

7. Is there any justification for the lynching and burn- 

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OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



ing of negroes by lawless mobs? What is the duty of 
Christians in this matter? 

8. What is the best substitute for war? 

9. What nations lead in the settlement of disputes by 
peaceful means? 

10. What institution is destined to become a permanent 
court of arbitration for the world? 

V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. Why should marriage be regarded as sacred? 

2. Are there any occupations for which women are 
unfit? 

3. Are there any occupations from which they are or 
should be excluded? 

4. Is there such a thing as "industrial slavery?" What 
keeps the slaves at their work? 

5. Why do not gentlemen fight duels to satisfy their 
honor ? 

6. Is it too much to hope that nations may act like gen- 
tlemen ? 

7. Does the world need a legislature to make laws for 
it ? Is there the beginning of such an institution ? 

8. What may develop into a Supreme Court of the 
world ? 

9. How could a President of the world be elected ? 



160 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



LESSON XIX 

PHILANTHROPY, DEMOCRACY AND LIBERTY 

Bibliography 

i. The Spirit of Democracy, by Charles F. Dole, 1906. 
T. Y. Crowell. 

2. Freedom and Responsibility, by A. T. Hadley, 1903. 
Scribner's. 

3. History of Civilization in Europe, by M. Guizot, 1884. 
John B. Alden. 

4. Democracy in the Church, by Edgar L. Heermance, 
1900. The Pilgrim Press. 

5. Liberty, Union and Democracy, by Barrett Wendell, 
1907. Scribner's. 

I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

1. What are the characteristics of our country that 
make us think of it as the best in the world ? 

2. Trace back, if you can, each of these characteristics 
to its source. 

3. Have these characteristics been given to us, or have 
they been earned, or bought, or inherited ? 

4. Are they worth keeping? Are they in danger of 
being lost? 

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OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



II. Lesson Outline. 

Philanthropy arose in Christianity. 

The teaching and the example of Jesus were the seed. 

The majority of people working for others is in the 
Church. 

Genuine democratic government had its origin in the 
Church. 

So, too, did popular education. 

These were not expressly taught by Jesus but were the 
outcome of his life and teaching. 

Chinese civilization exalts education, but not universal 
education. 

Chinese government is not constitutional government. 

Religious liberty arose in Holland, and was thence 
adopted by England and the United States. 

III. Philanthropy, Democracy and Liberty are 

Christian. 

i. Practical benevolence is to be found to-day in mani- 
fold forms, in caring for the sick, the hungry, the idle, the 
depraved. Did practical benevolence arise in Athens with 
three-fourths, or in Rome with three-fifths of her popula- 
tion in slavery? 

Among pagan nations there had been high culture, art, 
and eloquence, but little humanity. Greece and Rome had 
shrines for numberless divinities, forty theaters for amuse- 
ment, thousands of perfumery stores, but no shrine for 
brotherly love, no almshouse for the poor. Millions of 
money were expended on convivial feasts, but nothing for 
orphans, or for homes for widows. "In all my classical 
reading," says Professor Packard, "I have never met with 
the idea of an infirmary or hospital, except for sick cats 
(a sacred animal) in Egypt." Dr. Schneider, forty years 

162 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

a missionary in Turkey, said he knew of "only one hos- 
pital in the whole Moslem empire. ... In India, mon- 
keys are worshipped and provided with gorgeous temples, 
as much as $50,000 being sometimes expended on the mar- 
riage of two sacred apes. Boa-constrictors are maintained 
in state, but no provision is made for suffering humanity." * 

So unfamiliar with the idea of philanthropy was the 
popular Buddhism of pre-Mejii Japan, that Nobunaga was 
commonly credited with the saying that the Christian 
(Roman Catholic) work in Kyoto, on account of its mar- 
velous benevolence, was certainly worthy of suspicion; 
for though it was common for the people to contribute 
to a temple, never yet was it heard that a temple con- 
tributed to the help of the people. 

Not till Christ had taught the duty of perfect love to 
God and equal love to fellow men, of whatever race or 
class; not till Christ had taught, and himself had prac- 
tised, the duty of loving and praying for even one's ene- 
mies ; and not until the followers of Christ had taken these 
lessons to heart, and had practised them, did hospitals 
arise; not till then did the spirit of benevolence appear, 
which is to-day so beautiful a flower of the human race. 
What an astonishing spectacle is that afforded by the 
free-will gifts of millions of dollars, by the safe and the 
well for those that suffer — by fire, as at Boston or Chi- 
cago ; by flood, at Johnstown or in China ; by earthquake, 
as in the Carolinas, Japan, Greece, San Francisco, Italy, 
and Jamaica; by famine, as in Russia, India, Japan and 
China; or by epidemics of cholera, yellow fever, or the 
plague! What a noble idea it gives of the human race, 
that prosperous America should send shiploads of grain 
for free distribution among starving Russians or Koreans 

1 Problems of Religious Progress, p. 508. 

163 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



or Chinese, and that Englishmen should subscribe their 
tens of thousands of pounds for the sufferers by famine 
in India ! Truly, the godlike in man is growing. This 
spirit and these deeds are by no means limited to Chris- 
tians. Many there are in Christian lands who make no 
acknowledgment of their faith, who give liberally of their 
means for carrying on such forms of work. So sweet and 
reasonable have these institutions and methods been seen 
to be, that all men praise them. So important are many 
of them for the welfare of the community, that even 
governments do not hesitate to contribute public money 
for their support. The governments even of non-Chris- 
tian lands, have caught the spirit, and are following the 
examples set. 

Yet it remains true that the majority of those who give 
their means, and especially themselves, to benevolent work 
among the poor are earnest Christian men and women. 
But the sympathy and help that this form of Christian 
work finds among non-Christians, show how pervasive is 
the influence of Jesus. 

2. In respect to genuine democratic government, too, 
and popular education, and political and religious liberty, 
proofs are abundant that they are products of Christ's 
teaching, the natural development of the doctrine of the 
equal worth of man as man. From the beginning, the 
Church has been democratic in many essential respects. 
Genuine democratic principles first came to self-conscious 
existence at the time of the great Reformation, especially 
in the Calvinistic and Puritan systems of thought and 
government. With them, too, arose the idea of universal 
popular education. It was under the lead of earnest 
Christians that they found their first applications. All en- 
lightened, progressive men, regardless of their personal 

164 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

relation to Jesus, not only believe in, but take their part 
in sustaining, the democratic system of national govern- 
ment and popular education. The nation itself is seen to 
have a duty in the line of popular education. 

We do not for a moment say that Christ taught these 
things directly; but we assert that democratic government 
and popular education are enfolded in the principles that 
Christ taught, as the branches and flower of the tree are 
enfolded in the seed. It required time and circumstance 
to produce the flower. The Teutonic, and especially the 
Anglo-Saxon, race, seemed to be the necessary environ- 
ment for the blossoming of the seed planted by Christ. 
Democratic government and popular education did not 
come from Greece or Rome, or Babylon or Egypt, or 
China or India or Japan. With the exception of Greece, 
these countries have never, even to this day, dreamed of 
them, and the dream of Greece properly described was 
oligarchy. Four slaves to every free man was the Grecian 
realization of liberty, democracy, and popular rights. 

In China, as is well known, classical education until 
1906 has been highly esteemed; official promotion was 
based on success in passing the government examinations. 
In no country was it more easily possible for the sons of 
poor parents, by sheer ability in classical learning, to 
reach high rank in the government and great influence in 
the community. Perhaps less known is the fact that occa- 
sionally free schools were sustained by benevolent per- 
sons, in order that the children of the poor might have an 
opportunity to secure an education. It is nevertheless 
true that China never has known the first principles of 
genuine democratic government, nor has she had any 
conception of what really popular education is. 

The fundamental principle of genuine democratic govern- 

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OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



merit is its constitutional character, in which equal rights 
are conferred and equal duties are laid alike on all the 
members of the nation, regardless of differences of wealth, 
rank, title, etc. Under genuine democratic government, 
legal methods are provided for the making known of 
grievances and the securing of relief in a peaceful man- 
ner. Law is not the will of one man or of a few, or even 
of a class, but of the majority. This conception of law 
and government is entirely foreign to the Chinese mind. 
Confucius had no such ideas. His school of thought "re- 
gards the people as little children that must be fed, pro- 
tected, and taught their duties." The only method known 
to the ancients of China, as well as of other lands, for 
redressing their wrongs, and for securing relief from op- 
pressive rulers, was that of rebellion. Confucius himself 
made no other provision. Says Dr. Ernest Faber: "Con- 
fucius, praising Yao and Shun as the highest patterns of 
moral accomplishment, points principally to the fact that 
both rulers selected the worthiest of their subjects to be- 
come their coregents and their successors. This high 
example has not found a follower among the two hundred 
and forty-four emperors of China, from Confucius' day 
to the present. This is the case, in spite of the fact that 
Confucianism is the State religion of China. Confucius 
himself appears to have regarded with favor rebellious 
movements, in the hope of bringing a sage to the throne. 
Mencius is certainly outspoken in this respect. He justi- 
fies dethroning, and even murdering a bad ruler. No 
wonder, then, that rebellions have occurred on a large 
scale more than fifty times in about two thousand years, 
and local rebellions are almost yearly events. Neither 
Confucius himself, nor one of his followers, ever thought 
of establishing a constitutional barrier against tyranny, 

1 66 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

and providing a Magna Charta for the security of life 
and property of the ministers and people of China." 
Nothing can be more manifest than that, in spite of all 
the democratic features in her communal and national life 
and government, China never has had any conception of 
government "by the people, for the people/' 

In like manner, it would not be difficult to show that 
with all her emphasis on the study of the classics as a 
requisite to government promotion, China has not had 
the conception of popular education. Education of all the 
children, of girls as well as of boys, that each one may 
be fitted for the duties of life, — education in practical 
matters, and not merely in the classics, — this is the mean- 
ing of the phrase "popular education." Of such education 
China has not had the slightest conception. 

Genuine democratic government, therefore, and popular 
education, are distinctly the products of Christianity, and 
especially of Protestant Christianity. 

Mr. Kidd repeatedly says that the enfranchisement of 
the lower classes of society is primarily due, not to their 
wresting it from the power-holding classes, but to the un- 
selfish feeling with which, through the Christian religion, 
the power-holding classes have become increasingly 
equipped. * This enfranchisement of the lower classes of 
society has brought new millions of individuals of those 
nations where Christian ideals have had the greatest ef- 
fect, into an equality of opportunity; it has stimulated 
their ambitions, and made them feel that they are men. It 
has thus raised those nations to the highest degree of 
efficiency which the world has ever possessed. 

3. Still another of the blessings secured to the world by 
Christ when his teachings are practically worked out in 
1 Social Evolution, pp. 139, 155, 165, 179. 181, 185, 186 and 201. 

167 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



a Christian civilization, is religious liberty, or liberty of 
conscience, one of the crowning blessings of a Christian 
civilization. 

But whence did it arise, and how? Not in Athens, 
which killed Socrates on the charge of being an atheist, 
and whose most brilliant philosopher, Plato, would punish 
with death disloyalty to the State gods, in case five years 
of solitary confinement could not reform the criminal ! 
Not in Rome, which put to death countless innocent men, 
women, and children, for no other crime than that of 
refusing to worship the emperor as God. Not in India, or 
China or Africa, where even now, to abandon the national 
and tribal religion and become a Christian is too often to 
take one's life in one's hand and to endure suffering and 
social persecution. The doctrine of religious liberty did 
not come from great atheistic, infidel, or materialistic phi- 
losophers of ancient, or even of modern times. Not until 
the new conception of religion, as a personal relation of 
each man with his Maker, of "religion as a matter of con- 
science, and not of the magistrate," could the idea or prac- 
tise of religious liberty arise. It arose for the first time 
in the Protestant country of Holland, and was soon intro- 
duced into England and the United States. The United 
States, or rather New England, came into existence be- 
cause of the power of this new conception and the diffi- 
culty of carrying it into practise among those who vigor- 
ously tried to destroy it. And even in New England, time 
was needed for the full development of the idea. 

Now, however, that the idea has been produced, and the 
long, bloody battle has been fought and won, none are 
so loud and noisy in their advocacy of it as those who 
reject Christ and his teachings. Truly the Christian ori- 
gin of liberty, both religious and political, the wide ac- 

168 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

ceptance of the fundamental factors of civilization beyond 
the bounds of the Church, and their extension even to 
non-Christian lands, are beyond dispute. 

But we must not forget that civil and religious liberty 
and genuine democracy are not necessarily confined to the 
republican form of government. England, though a 
kingdom, is, in some respects, more liberal and demo- 
cratic than the United States. In these lessons we are 
considering the spirit, not the forms of government. 

IV. Resurvey. 

i. Where did philanthropy or beneficence arise? 

2. Did Jesus directly teach his disciples all forms of 
benevolence ? 

3. Are all philanthropists Christian? Are all members 
of the Church? Are the majority of philanthropists in 
the Church? 

4. Where did genuine democratic government have its 
origin ? 

5. Where did popular education originate? 

6. What popular features are possessed by the Chinese 
government ? 

7. What part does education play in Chinese life ? 

8. Where did religious liberty originate? 

9. To what countries was it exported ? 

V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. What sayings of Jesus were the seed of beneficence? 

2. What has been even more powerful than the teaching 
of Jesus? 

3. Is it fair to claim for Christ the work of philan- 
thropists who do not call themselves Christian ? 

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4. Explain how civil freedom grew out of religious free- 
dom. 

5. What logical connection is there between democratic 
government and popular education? 

6. What can we learn of the Chinese? 

7. Do we owe popular government and education to 
England or to Holland? 

8. Whence did Holland get her ideas of civil and re- 
ligious liberty and education? 

9. What are the dangers of democracy ? 



170 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



LESSON XX 

THE WORK OF THE PUBLIC CONSCIENCE 
Bibliography 

i. Jesus Christ and the Social Question, by F. G. Pea- 
body, 1904. Macmillan. 

2. Christianity and Social Problems, by Lyman Abbott, 
1897. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 

3. Genesis of the Social Conscience, by H. S. Nash, 
1897. Macmillan. 

4. The Citizen in his Relation to the Industrial Situa- 
tion, by Henry C. Potter, 1902. Scribner's. 

5. Applied Christianity, by Washington Gladden, 1896. 
Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 

6. The Social Teaching of Jesus, by Shailer Mathews, 
1897. Macmillan. 

7. Faith and Social Service, by George Hodges, 1896. 
Whittaker. 

8. Social Aspects of Christianity, by Bishop B. F. West- 
cott, 1887. Macmillan. 

I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

1. Look through a good daily paper and compute what 
proportion of it has a moral influence, what proportion 
has a harmful influence, and what proportion has no 
moral influence. 

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OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



2. In what ways is the exposure of crime and sin evil? 
Does it serve any good purpose? 

II. Lesson Outline. 

Interest in the welfare of the masses is increasing. 

The solidarity of society is perceived. 

The Tribune "Fresh Air Fund." 

The Chicago Daily News' Fresh Air work. 

This interest in the people is derived from Christianity. 

The voice of the public conscience has demanded and 
secured reforms. 

The ancestors of Americans and English were bar- 
barous. 

Christianity has subdued and civilized them. 

III. The Work of the Public Conscience. 

i. Within recent times there has arisen in many quar- 
ters outside the Christian Church a deep interest in the 
welfare of the masses of the people. It is perceived that 
all classes of society are linked together ; that in this dem- 
ocratic age the superstition of the ignorant masses cannot 
long exist with continued safety to the wealthy classes; 
that the disease-producing filth of the crowded slums car- 
ries death into the homes of the rich and the poor; that 
vicious voters, whether ignorant or educated, cannot be 
trusted with the reins of power; for if poor they sell 
their votes, and if rich they buy their way to office and 
seek their own advantage, not that of the nation. Honest 
and peaceful government in the hands of unprincipled 
men cannot exist. These facts are becoming clear; many 
educated men and women, who make no claim of having a 
Christian faith, are studying social problems and discuss- 
ing remedies with commendable zeal. The problems of 

172 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

immigration, of labor, of city life, of municipal and na- 
tional government, of temperance, of the colored race, of 
illiteracy, of corrupt methods of banking and of railroads, 
of illegitimate business combinations, to say nothing of 
gambling, intemperance, prostitution, and countless other 
subjects, are all discussed in the public press from the 
moral point of view as never before. The remedies sug- 
gested are additional and more stringent laws. Without 
doubt these are valuable and essential, because of the con- 
ditions of social and industrial life which the introduction 
of steam has brought about within the last seventy-five 
years. But the most significant fact is the interest itself 
in the moral aspects of these problems; men perceive the 
solidarity of each city, and of the nation; that no class 
of society can surfer, be ignorant, or vicious, without 
bringing danger to the city or state or nation; that each 
part, family, individual has a vital interest in each and 
in all. 

Nor is this interest merely that of scholars concerned 
with an abstract problem in science; it is a practical in- 
terest that leads to action. Many of the daily newspaper 
companies, though absolutely non-religious in character, 
have started subscription lists for special objects of need 
as they arise, and have administered the funds thus se- 
cured. For many years The New York Tribune has col- 
lected and expended a "Fresh Air Fund" in the interest 
of children in the tenement districts. Forty thousand per- 
sons, for several years past, have enjoyed the benefits of 
this beautiful charity. From ten to fifteen thousand chil- 
dren are sent into the country for a two weeks' vacation. 
A great number are sent out for single-day excursions. 
Hundreds of lives have undoubtedly been saved every 
year as a result of these outings. 

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In Chicago, The Daily News is entering on the twenty- 
first season of its fresh air work. The report for the sum- 
mer of 1906 is a gratifying one. More than 7000 sick 
babies, nearly 7000 mothers, and other children, enough 
to bring up the total to 20,619 were entertained at the 
sanitarium of The Daily News in Lincoln Park, on the 
lake shore. This charity, like those of New York, is well 
organized, with suitable medical attendance and various 
facilities for recreation and enjoyment. The leading pa- 
pers of the large cities in the United States are doing 
more or less of this kind of work. Those named above 
are cited only as typical illustrations. These works of 
charity are not done in the name of any religious organ- 
ization or church, but simply in the name of humanity, 
and prompted by the practical brotherly interest in the 
suffering poor felt by the tens of thousands who are able 
to contribute. 

Whence has come this interest? Without doubt, the 
drift of the times and the evils of modern life have helped 
much to arouse it. But the times, the environment, only 
arouse, they cannot produce it, for it depends primarily on 
high moral ideals and moral character. The industrial, 
social, and moral evils of China or India or Africa are 
vastly more terrible than those of Europe or America, yet 
they do not produce moral earnestness in those lands and 
nations. Not the external, but the internal, not the ac- 
cidental, but the essential, character is of prime impor- 
tance. It must be evident that the growing moral earnest- 
ness of modern times in Christian lands is one of the 
products of Christianity. It is the Church that more or 
less constantly and consistently has held high the ideal of 
truth and duty and fidelity, in public as in private life. 
It is the Church that has given Christendom its moral 

174 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

ideals and standards. It is the Church to which all owe 
their ideals of life, their moral vigor, the moral atmos- 
phere they breathe, whether they recognize it or not, 
whether they claim or reject the Christian's faith in 
Christ. 

This moral earnestness is to be found in no other parts 
of the world. Heathendom has none of it. Even in so- 
called Christian nations there is a difference in the degree 
of its vigor, for the Protestant nations far surpass those 
under the Roman Catholic, the Greek, and the other East- 
ern branches of the Christian Church. 

2. A promising feature of modern civilized life is the ap- 
pearance and rapidly growing power in English-speaking 
lands of what may be called the public conscience. This 
conscience is the combined product of high moral ideals, 
Christian character, intelligence, and knowledge of the 
daily experiences of the nation, of its classes, and of its 
individuals. Wrong or injustice of any sort may appeal 
to the public conscience with the assurance of finding sym- 
pathy. When the public is satisfied of the reality of any 
wrong or injustice, through the public press, and, if need 
be, through the democratic forms of government of both 
England and America, it speaks with no uncertain sound. 
If new laws are needed, they are enacted. If bad men are 
to be driven from office or power, the way is surely found. 
The abolition of slavery in all the English world many 
years ago ; the great American Civil War for the abolish- 
ment of slavery, in more recent times; the expulsion of 
the Louisiana lottery from the State of that name; the 
vigorous moral uprising in New Jersey, New York, and 
elsewhere, against the gambling evils of the race-track; 
the moral indignation that always arises on the clear ex- 
posure of corruption in municipal or national government, 

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such as those of the Tweed ring, and, later, of Tammany, 
and the New York police protection of immorality, the 
perversion of funds by life insurance companies, dishon- 
esty in acquiring public lands, unjust and cruel methods 
of crushing competitors in business; the success of many 
labor strikes whose justice the public recognizes; the com- 
mon failure of those strikes in which violence and wrong 
are done by the strikers — these are some of the many ways 
in which the public conscience speaks and acts. In Great 
Britain this public conscience has often spoken with tre- 
mendous effect, overthrowing men and measures, however 
powerfully supported by the government, that in some 
more or less flagrant way had violated its sense of right- 
eousness or morality. The abolition of slavery in the 
British empire many years ago, and the passing of many 
reform measures in more recent times, with the intense 
feeling on the question of the Armenian atrocities, and 
England's duty in view of them and her treaty responsi- 
bilities, — these are all manifestations of this public con- 
science. Though sometimes called the "Non-conformist 
conscience," it is by no means limited to the members of 
the Non-conformist churches, but is shared alike by all 
earnest Christians, vast multitudes of whom are members 
of the Established Church. 

Though it has received no special name in the United 
States, this national conscience is none the less operative. 
It is to this public conscience that all reform movements 
appeal ; only by its action can they hope to succeed. This 
public conscience is in process of education, and this educa- 
tional process needs time: each new phase of a subject 
needs careful study, and receives it. It is the existence and 
recent manifest growth of this public conscience which are 
the hopeful signs of the moral growth of the country. 

176 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

An editorial in The Outlook says : "There has never 
been in this country such a revival of the civic conscience 
as at present; such an effort to introduce righteousness 
into all departments of society ; such a resolute and per- 
sistent determination to make the nation, not only nomi- 
nally but actually, what it should be. . . . The distinctions 
between right and wrong, the reality of moral order, the 
fact that righteousness alone constitutes true prosperity, 
are appreciated as they have not been for many years." 
The revolt throughout the United States against machine 
government and corrupt or doubtful political methods, are 
indications of the growth of the public conscience. "Pub- 
lic conscience is a public force in America. It may be, 
and often is, somnolent. It may be, and often is, hood- 
winked for a time. But it cannot be safely defied. And 
the politician who disregards it, and depends on corrup- 
tion, management, wiles, or cunning, is sure, sooner or 
later, to be discovered, and absolutely sure, when dis- 
covered, to be defeated. The American people will have 
none of him. . . . Public conscience is a greater power 
than public corruption." 

3. We cannot speak of the countless little ways of speech 
and life over which the gentle Jesus has exerted, and still 
is exerting, his kindly influence. The brutality which 
seemed characteristic of the ancient Roman, Gothic, and 
Teutonic races, though by no means wholly conquered, yet 
has been modified. Not only has ruthless murder been 
largely stopped, but all forms of torture in the examina- 
tion of supposed criminals has been abolished. Even in 
the case of criminals condemned to death, the most pain- 
less methods of execution have been adopted. Needless 
pain and wanton cruelty are being banished by the rising 
public conscience. Not only have laws been enacted on 

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the subject of cruelty, but private societies have been or- 
ganized to insist on the execution of those laws. Societies 
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and Societies 
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, yearly spend 
large sums of money in carrying on their humane work. 
Whence, again I ask, has come this spirit of gentleness, of 
sympathy? What influence has made Teutons and Celts, 
who used to burn hundreds of human beings before their 
dreadful Druid gods, — what power has transformed them 
into the peace-loving, cruelty-hating peoples of modern 
times ? No mere teachings of ethics and moral rules could 
have done it. It has been the work of Christianity, the 
influence of the gentle Jesus, whom so many of them have 
learned to love, and more and more to understand and 
obey. 

It is not here asserted that the Church has from the 
beginning been wholly free from cruelty, that it has set 
its face like a flint against needless pain, for, alas, that 
is not true. Too often has the Church, adopting the 
heathen spirit and the methods of the times, used the 
sword, the thumbscrew, and the rack, forgetful of the 
teachings and example of Jesus. But these were the work 
of the pagan spirit. Nor is it maintained that there is 
now no cruelty in Christendom. Were that true there 
would be no need of such societies as those named above. 
But it is believed that cruelty is on the decrease; that the 
face of Christian civilization is finally set against all forms 
of cruelty and needless pain; that this tendency is a 
product of Christian teaching, a result of the wide in- 
fluence of Jesus, reaching beyond the limits of professing 
Christians; and that it is a modern movement, one of the 
signs of the growth of the kingdom of God. 

i 7 8 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

IV. Resurvey. 

i. Is interest in the welfare of the masses limited to 
the churches? 

2. What is meant by the solidarity of society? 

3. What practical forms does this social interest take? 

4. Does social need create social sympathy? 

5. Was there social sympathy in Africa before the ad- 
vent of the Christian missionary? Why not? 

6. The Church of Christ has educated the Christian con- 
science. 

7. The public conscience is found only in Christendom. 

8. Mention some of the reforms called for and secured 
by the public conscience of the United States. 

9. Do the same for Great Britain. 

V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. What kind of help to the poor is thought to do more 
harm than good? 

2. What are some of the causes for feelings of enmity 
between different classes of society? 

3. What are some of the ways in which the public con- 
science expresses itself? 

4. How is the public conscience educated? 

5. Do you think of any great public evil that ought to 
be corrected? 

6. What would be a good method to go about its re- 
form? 

7. What reforms have you seen accomplished? 

8. Is the public conscience the sum of all private con- 
sciences ? 

179 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



LESSON XXI 

INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY, THE SABBATH, 
WHITE CROSS, ETC. 

Bibliography 

1. Sabbath Essays, by various authors, 1879. Congre- 
gational Publishing Society. 

2. The Sabbath Transferred, by J. D. Parker, 1902. 
J. D. Parker & Co. 

3. Scientific Basis of Sabbath and Sunday, by R. J. 
Floody, 2nd Ed., 1906. Turner & Co. 

4. Eight Studies of the Lord's Day, by George S. Gray, 
1897. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 

5. The Sunday Problem. Papers presented at the In- 
ternational Congress on Sunday Rest. 1893. Earle. 

6. The Hallowed Day, by Geo. Guivey. Dartmouth 
College Prize Essay. 1892. Baker & Taylor. 

I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

1. Make a careful list of the classes of people in your 
neighborhood who do work on Sunday. 

2. Separate this list into two subdivisions: — (a) those 
whose work is necessary to be done; (b) those whose 
work is unnecessary. 

3. How large a proportion of those who work feel that 
it is compulsory ? 

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OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



II. Lesson Outline. 

Influence of the industrial revolution on Sunday observ- 
ance. 

The desires of laboring men in reference to it. 

Facts concerning the Sunday opening of World's fairs. 

Sabbath observance in England and on the continent of 
Europe. 

The White Cross Society. 

The attitude of Scientific men to Christianity. 

Influence of Christianity in non-Christian lands. 

The influence of Christianity as manifested in literature 
and art. 

III. Influence of Christianity. 

We consider in this lesson still more signs of the in- 
creasing influence of Christ outside of the Church. 

I. We mention first, the growing popular interest in the 
observance of the Lord's Day. The modern industrial 
revolution has done much to break down its former strict 
observance in England and America. Immigrants to the 
latter country have brought in the so-called "Continental 
Sabbath" — a day of sport and business rather than of rest 
and worship. With this method of regarding the day, the 
number of those who labor on the Sabbath has of late 
greatly increased. With this increased disregard of the 
Sabbath have come in serious evils. The fierce struggle 
for existence, the intensity of industrial and commercial life, 
the long hours of close attention, the increase of the strain 
of labor due to increased specialization, — all these have 
contributed to a keener realization of the absolute need of 
rest one day in seven. Multitudes who care nothing for 
the religious uses of the day demand its observance on 

182 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



the ground of the physiological, social, mental, and moral 
needs, both of the individual and of society. 

The "Sunday problem" is receiving scientific study. 
Not only as a matter of theory, but as a matter of ex- 
perience, is it being studied in each department of labor. 
The advantages and disadvantages to the laborer and to 
the business man are receiving impartial consideration. 
It is seen that the physical health of the employee de- 
mands rest, because of the intensity of modern industrial 
conditions. Agitation and legislation to enforce Sunday 
rest are becoming common. International conventions for 
the purpose of the study of the problem are held. Work- 
ing men themselves are becoming interested. Labor unions 
in Europe and America are urging its wider observance. 
The representative of over 100,000 railroad employees in 
the United States, at the International Congress of Sun- 
day rest, held in connection with the Columbian Exposi- 
tion at Chicago in 1893, spoke in the most emphatic terms 
of the desire of the men for, as well as their absolute need 
of, regular and complete Sabbath rest. Over 500,000 mem- 
bers of labor organizations in Great Britain opposed the 
Sunday opening of museums in 1892; while between 1872 
and 1891, 719,000 signers of petitions to the House of 
Commons opposed, and only 80,000 favored, their opening. 
Although in general the Sabbath observance of England 
and America surpasses that of Europe, yet in some re- 
spects Europe excels. "In Belgium, there are postage 
stamps which bear the inscription, 'Not to be delivered on 
Sunday/ ... In Holland and Switzerland, no Sunday 
newspapers are issued. In Italy, a congress of work- 
men's societies held in 1892 voted in favor of obligatory 
rest." In the United States, in the army, the navy, the 
government, and in all postal offices, work is reduced to 

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a minimum. In most Protestant, and in some of the 
Roman Catholic countries, societies for the further study 
of the problem, for popular education and agitation, and 
for enforcing Sabbath legislation, have been organized in 
recent years, and are doing much to create public intelli- 
gence and opinion on the subject. 

There has been much recent legislation on the subject 
both in Europe and America. The Fletcher prize essay 
for 1892, on "The Hallowed Day," asserts that "only one 
of the States of the United States has no Sunday law; 
the most of the States of the United States have good Sun- 
day laws." After a careful examination of them all, 
the author deliberately says that they "are not the old 
Puritanic laws of colonial times, but the revised statutes 
. . . providing for the proper observance of the Lord's 
Day in these closing years of the nineteenth century." 
The immense importance of the Sabbath in the eyes of 
the American people may be measured in part by the 
fact that the petitions for Sabbath closing of the Colum- 
bian Exposition represented a constituency of forty mil- 
lions in the denominations, labor unions, and other bodies 
represented by special vote, besides millions of individual 
signatures. Only liquor dealers' associations and two 
labor bodies voted for Sabbath opening, and all together 
did not represent more than a million individuals. The na- 
tional government voted to grant the exposition two and 
a half million dollars, on condition that the grounds should 
be closed on Sundays. Though the Sunday closing move- 
ment did not succeed, because of the foreign character of 
the majority of Chicago's citizens and exposition commit- 
tees, yet the failure of the masses of the visitors to attend 
on the Sabbath caused Sunday opening to be a serious loss. 
The largest attendance at the Fair grounds was usually on 

184 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

Saturdays; the largest on a single day was 716,881 persons 
who paid an admittance fee. The total attendance was 
2 7>377>733> being an average of over 150,000 for each day 
of the six months during which the Exposition was open. 
The Sabbath attendance was, however, very small, not ex- 
ceeding, it is safe to say, 20,000 a day. On Sunday, 
August 6, 1893, 16,000 persons visited the Fair. The 
average Sabbath attendance at Mr. Moody's religious 
services was 50,000, being a far greater number than went 
to the Fair grounds. 

In England the Sabbath is more highly appreciated by 
the working classes, as their only hope, than in the United 
States. Until recently throughout Great Britain there was 
not a single newspaper published on Sunday. There is 
abundant Sabbath legislation. As already mentioned, 
there is great opposition among the working classes to the 
opening even of museums on the Sabbath. 

On the Continent, the recent growth of the Sunday 
rest agitation and legislation is marvelous. Each nation, 
from Russia to Portugal, and from Greece to Sweden, has 
awakened to the subject during the past decades as never 
before. Much new legislation has been enacted since 1890. 
Sunday rest is rapidly growing. After a careful survey 
of the recent Sunday legislation and its observance on 
the Continent, E. Deluz, in the Sunday Problem, says: 
'•'The above facts show that the cause is making important 
progress on the continent of Europe, and encourages 
further effort." 

But the Sabbath is a Christian institution. Its adoption 
as an essential of modern civilization by non-Christians is 
a noteworthy sign of the growth of the influence of 
Christianity. 

2. We mention, in the second place, the recent growth 

185 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



of the White Cross Society, and the evidence it affords of 
the great emphasis that is being laid on having and en- 
forcing the same standard of morality for man as for 
woman. "A white life for two" is becoming a well-known 
phrase. This is a most promising movement in the moral 
world. But it is safe to say that its moving power, no 
less than its origin, is Christian. I have yet to hear of a 
single "social purity" society outside of Christian in- 
fluence. 

3. Another significant sign of the times is the demand, 
made even by those who reject Christianity, that others 
shall follow the Christian standards when they come into 
relation with themselves. This is a virtual admission of 
the truth and authority of Christ's teachings. 

4. There seems to be an impression that, more and 
more, scientific men are leaving the Christian ranks. The 
relation of education to religion has been briefly con- 
sidered in a previous lesson. Here we only wish to deny 
the correctness of the above-mentioned impression. It is 
impossible, from the nature of the case, to present any 
statistics on this subject; yet the following facts are not 
unimportant : — 

The Marquis of Salisbury, in his address as President 
of the British Scientific Association, and as giving a dis- 
passionate and accepted summary of the present view of 
natural science, could assert, in the words of Lord Kelvin 
(Sir William Thomson), "that the argument of design 
has been greatly too much lost sight of in recent zoo- 
logical speculations. Overpoweringly strong proofs of in- 
telligence and benevolent design lie around us; . . . with 
irresistible force they show to us through nature the in- 
fluence of a free will, and teach us that all living things 
depend on one everlasting Creator and Ruler." It is safe 

186 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

to say that the scientific mind of the civilized world is as 
fully convinced of the truth of all that is important in 
Christianity as it ever was, and that it is also as devoted 
as ever to the attainment of Christian character. The 
number of anti-Christian scientists is without doubt com- 
paratively small, though they attract much attention by 
the extreme nature of their views, and the constancy with 
which they assert them. 

A paragraph from an editorial in The Outlook is 
worthy of quotation : 

"One of the most significant signs of the times is the 
change of attitude among scientists toward religious ques- 
tions. Those who keep pace with scientific thought, and 
are familiar with the atmosphere and spirit of scientific 
investigation in the universities abroad, have been struck 
by the radical change which has taken place in the last 
twenty years. What now strikes one, in the attitude and 
spirit of a great many scientific men, is a spirit of rev- 
erence toward the religious side of life. This does not 
mean that there is a return to the old dogmatic state- 
ments, or to the ecclesiastical explanation of things; but 
it does mean that there has come a deeper perception of 
the facts of religious experience, and a deeper realiza- 
tion of the immense part which the religious element plays 
in human life. It is very generally felt that the explana- 
tions of religious phenomena offered twenty years ago, 
and accepted at the moment as final, are inadequate; that 
religion is something deeper, more pervasive, and more 
influential than many scientific men took account of two 
decades ago. The feeling is growing that the religious 
phenomena of history are not to be explained by the myth- 
ological and anthropological explanations once offered. 
Mr. Kidd's notable book, so widely read and so earnestly 

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discussed during recent years, is a striking revelation of 
the attitude which many scientific men are now taking 
toward religious questions — an attitude of free but rev- 
erential investigation. There are of course a number of 
old-time scientific men who still hold to the somewhat ar- 
rogant agnosticism of two decades ago; but the younger 
men are inspired by a very different spirit." 

It is widely acknowledged that philosophic materialism 
is dead. It is no longer held that true Christianity and 
true evolution are contradictory. Indeed each is neces- 
sary to the other. 

5. The evidence presented in these lessons has had all 
but exclusive reference to the increasing influence of 
Jesus within the limits of Christendom. We wish to call 
attention to the spread of that influence to non-Christian 
lands. We have, in a previous lesson, spoken of the grow- 
ing efforts to propagate the teachings of Christ in foreign 
lands. We should also refer to the effects of those ef- 
forts. Scores of islands in the Pacific Ocean have been 
transformed into wholly Christian lands. India and Japan 
have been wonderfully modified, and in no slight degree 
elevated by Christian ideals. Hundreds of thousands of 
believers and church-members have been gathered in those 
countries. But the influence of Jesus is by no means lim- 
ited to the churches. Millions in those Eastern lands, 
who acknowledge no connection with the visible Church, 
know and admire, and, more or less consciously, have 
accepted the teachings of Christ as the best the world af- 
fords. It is safe to say that the gospel of Christ, and 
love for the Saviour of mankind, are spreading more 
rapidly among non-Christian communities than at any 
previous time, not even excepting the first and second 
centuries. The Boston Advertiser once said: "They who 

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GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

do not know what they are talking about, still say that 
missionaries have made no impression in heathendom ex- 
cept upon a relatively small fraction of the lower orders 
of mankind. They who speak from knowledge, say that 
in Japan, to take that one case, Christian ideas have al- 
ready permeated the institutions and populations of the 
country to such an extent, that, from the Mikado to the 
humblest laborer at four cents a day, there is no man in 
the island-empire who does not, directly or indirectly, feel 
the influence of the new religion, if not as a spiritual 
force, at least as a creative energy in politics, industry, 
and learning. Statistics can never do more than dimly 
shadow forth the truth of such a matter." * 

6. This brief survey of the growing influence in the 
world of Christ and his teaching would be faulty indeed, 
were there no reference to the mighty power of his per- 
sonality in purifying, in ennobling, in refining, and in in- 
spiring all our literature, poetry, painting, architecture, 
sculpture, music, and oratory. These are sensitive ther- 
mometers of the increasing warmth of Christian civiliza- 
tion. 

For nineteen hundred years, the most ennobling poetry, 
the most magnificent architecture, the most exquisite 
painting, the most thrilling music, and the most moving 
oratory, have been those most intimately connected with 
devotion to Christ's person, and with efforts to present, in 
beautiful forms, some phase of himself or his teachings. 
The development of all these arts, expressive of men's 
esthetic sense, has received its best and most permanent 
stimulus from the efforts fitly to express loyalty and devo- 
tion to the Saviour of mankind. And to this day, no one 
who would aspire to take the first rank in any of these 

1 Boston Advertiser, October 15, 1894. 

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OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



departments would venture to ignore Christ's teaching. 
Indeed, it is safe to say that he could not attain to the 
first rank without having first received the impress of 
Christ's character upon him. Public sentiment renders 
impossible to-day such literature, poetry, and music as is 
common in all pre-Christian and non-Christian and semi- 
Christian lands and times. The purest and best and most 
ennobling of Greek and Roman poetry is filled with pas- 
sages which are expurgated in all modern editions in- 
tended for the public eye. It is safe to say that no man 
in all history has given so powerful and ennobling a stim- 
ulus to the arts expressive of man's esthetic nature as 
did the lowly Man of Nazareth. But the point of special 
importance for us is the fact that Christ's influence along 
all these varied lines is growing century by century. 
Never was fiction so pure, or poetry so inspiring and 
spiritual, as during the past century. What previous cen- 
tury can claim such a galaxy of noble men as this? 
Whittier, Lowell and Longfellow; Wordsworth, Tennyson 
and Browning; Beecher, Brooks and Moody; Spurgeon 
and Parker; Cobden, Bright and Gladstone — to name no 
others, are fitting representatives of the nobler movements 
of modern thought. But they are what they are through 
the influence of Christ and his spirit. 

Enough has been said, we think, to indicate the growing 
influence of Christ outside of the organic Church. The 
Christian need not despond, but rather should rejoice, for, 
after all, that for which every Christian cares is not the 
growth of the Church, but of the Kingdom ; not the dom- 
inance of the ecclesiastical organism, but of the Christ- 
spirit. That the wide-reaching influence of Jesus is grow- 
ing, who can doubt? 



190 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

IV. Resurvey. 

i. What influence has our foreign population had upon 
Sunday observance? 

2. W T hat part of our population is in special need of 
weekly rest? Do they appreciate the fact? 

3. How general are Sunday laws in our states? 

4. What organizations favored Sunday opening of the 
Chicago World's Fair ? With what financial result ? 

5. What country observes Sunday most completely? 

6. What is the general attitude of scientific men to re- 
ligious truth? 

7. To what degree is the influence of Jesus felt in non- 
Christian lands ? 

8. Name the foremost writers and preachers and states- 
men of the past hundred years in England and the United 
States. Who of them were Christian ? 



V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. Do people who work hard six days need a day of rest, 
or of recreation, or of worship ? 

2. If Sunday is made a day of rest and worship, what 
provision should be made for recreation? 

3. Why does the observance of Sunday need to be en- 
forced by law? 

4. Who would be the greatest sufferers if Sunday ob- 
servance were given up? 

5. What is the general influence of the Sunday news- 
paper? 

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OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



6. Ought museums and art galleries to be opened on 
Sunday ? 

7. Can true science be antagonistic to true religion? 

8. Is it likely that India and China will ever become 
Christian in name? in practise? 

9. Are our most prominent public men avowedly Chris- 
tian? 



192 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



PART V 

A GENERAL VIEW OF THE GROWTH 
OF CHRISTIANITY 

LESSON XXII 
REVIEW 

Bibliography 

1. Our Country, by Josiah Strong. Baker & Taylor. 

2. The New Era, by Josiah Strong. Baker & Taylor. 

3. The Problem of Religious Progress, by Daniel Dor- 
chester. Phillips & Hunt. 

4. Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism, by Uhl- 
horn. Scribner's. 

5. The Signs of the Times, by Thomas Carlyle. 

6. Missions and Modern History, by Robert E. Speer, 
1904. 2 vols. Revell. 

7. The History of Christianity, by John S. C. Abbott, 
1875. B. B. Russell. 

I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

1. Consider how many of your acquaintances have 
changed their residence from country to city, and vice 
versa. 

193 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



2. Is the moral and religious life of your acquaintances 
who live in large cities better, on the whole, than that 
of those who live in the smaller towns ? 

II. Lesson Outline. 

Our survey of the Kingdom is now complete. 

A summary of the work of the Church in its five pe- 
riods. 

Much remains to be done. 

Evils of our day due to industrialism. 

A rising tide of moral earnestness is meeting the flood 
of evils. 

III. Review of Preceding Lessons. 

i. We have now reached the end of our detailed study 
of the way in which the Kingdom founded by Jesus has 
grown. We have seen how, in spite of being misunder- 
stood, and in spite of periods of apparent reverses and 
losses, that Kingdom has on the whole been better under- 
stood from age to age. The teaching of Jesus has been 
applied with ever-increasing thoroughness and success to 
the various problems of life. We have seen how the num- 
ber of those who have consciously come under the power- 
ful influence of Jesus has increased until that number is 
well up in the millions, while those who, without con- 
scious submission of themselves to Jesus, are yet more or 
less determined by his thoughts and ideals, are to be 
counted by the hundred million. We have seen how ma- 
terial blessings have come in larger measure to the nations 
where Christian teaching prevails, and in general, in di- 
rect proportion to the dominance of the teachings of Jesus. 
We have seen how the practise of the teachings of Jesus 

194 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

has been growing from age to age, and how those teach- 
ings are being practised by multitudes who make no pro- 
fession of being followers of Jesus. 

2. It will be useful now to consider in somewhat differ- 
ent form the great work that Christianity has accomplished 
in the course of the centuries. At the time of the birth 
of Christ the Graeco-Roman world was dominated by poly- 
theism and superstition in religion, slavery and cruelty 
in the social order, the utmost licentiousness and im- 
morality in the relations of the sexes, and arbitrary des- 
potism and frank militarism in the State. The moral, 
religious, social, civil and economic conditions of the later 
Grseco-Roman world were about as bad as we can con- 
ceive. And worse than all else was the fact that there 
were no signs of any redemptive power, no evidence of 
any moral and religious vitality equal to the task of bring- 
ing moral health to the masses. Such was the material on 
which, in which and with which Christianity was to work. 

3. What now has Christianity accomplished? In brief- 
est phrase, we may characterize the work accomplished as 
follows : — 

Period I. The teaching of Jesus is freed from Jewish 
trammels and made universal. The first Christian com- 
munities discovered that Christ had bound religion and 
moral life so closely together that the two have become 
for all time and to all intelligent people inseparable. Re- 
ligion without morality is hypocrisy. Moral ideals with- 
out religion are impotent. 

Period II. Polytheism and nature-worship were van- 
quished in all the great centers of population around the 
Mediterranean Sea. Monotheism became the only possible 
thought of God for all civilized peoples. 

195 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



Period III. Christian truth was carried to all parts of 
Europe ; barbarian tribes were brought under the influence 
of Christian institutions, and instructed in Christian ideas. 
Monogamy was established as the ideal of all civilized and 
moral peoples. Slavery in Europe was abolished; uni- 
versal compassion and charity were cultivated. Human 
beings began to be valued as human beings. Could all 
this have been accomplished without and but for the pow- 
erful and highly organized Roman Catholic Church? 

Period IV. The rights and value of the individual be- 
gan to be recognized and the foundations for democracy 
in education, in religion and in government were laid. 
Freedom of conscience for the individual began to be ef- 
fective and the religion of Jesus began to free itself from 
ecclesiasticism, sacerdotalism, and ritualism. 

Period V. The principle of the mutual freedom of 
Church and State, of religious life and civil government 
is established and begins to be practised. More thorough- 
going efforts are made to apply Christian ideals to social 
relations and the social order. The Bible is given to the 
masses. World-wide missionary work begins to plant the 
kingdom of God in every land. 

Rabbi Kohler, in his article on "Christianity" in the 
Jewish Encyclopedia pays it the following remarkable 
tribute : — 

"Christianity, following the matchless ideal of its Christ, re- 
deemed the despised and outcast, and ennobled suffering. 
It checked infanticide and founded asylums for the young; it 
removed the curse of slavery by making the humblest bonds- 
man proud of being a child of God ; it fought against the 
cruelties of the arena; it invested the home with purity, and 
proclaimed . . . the value of each human soul as a treas- 
ure in the eyes of God; and it so leavened the great masses 
of the empire as to render the cross of Christ the sign of 
victory for its legions in place of the Roman eagle. The 

196 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



'Galilean' entered the world as a conqueror. The church be- 
came the educator of the pagan nations; and one race after 
another was brought under her tutorship. The Latin races 
were followed by the Celt, the Teuton, and the Slav. The 
same burning enthusiasm which sent forth the first apostle 
also set the missionaries aglow, and brought all Europe and 
Africa, and, finally, the American Continent, under the 
scepter of an omnipotent church. . . . Christianity is not 
an end, but the means to an end — namely, the establishment 
of the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God." 



4. In emphasizing the growth of the Kingdom and the 
great work already accomplished, the Christian should 
not think that all has been done. We must not ignore 
the evil customs that have been practised by multitudes 
of professed Christians and often in the name of Christ. 
The religious persecutions of the past no one now con- 
siders to have been truly Christian. They are thought 
rather to have been survivals of pagan thought and 
practise. Christians are still imperfect. No church or 
individual has attained to the standard of perfection set 
up for us by Jesus. Drunkenness, licentious immorality, 
worship of Mammon, political corruption, oppression of 
the laborer by the moneyed class, social pride, scorn for 
people of colored skin (black, yellow, or brown) as though 
of an inherently inferior race, blackmail, graft, sweating 
houses, watering of stock, fraud in insurance and various 
other forms of dishonesty are disgracefully common and 
constitute the enemy against which modern Christians 
should wage relentless war. In affirming the growth of 
Christ's Kingdom we dare not and need not ignore these 
facts. But what we may and do assert is that by com- 
parison with former times, even a hundred years ago, 
Christ's Kingdom has produced marked improvement, that 
his Kingdom is coming and will continue to come in pro- 

197 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



portion to the intelligence, sincerity and earnestness of 
those who know his name and have received his spirit. 

5. It is important to recognize that many of the evils 
peculiar to this age are the product of the new forms of 
human activity that have been developed. Steam and 
electric power have transformed the entire life of Western 
Europe and the United States. Instead of being pre- 
dominantly agricultural, we have become industrial peo- 
ples. Freedom of travel tends to looseness of moral life, 
as well as toward the concentration of population in in- 
dustrial centers. Massing of populations in cities brings 
its own peculiar problems, moral, religious and social. 
The flagrant evils of to-day are the direct outcome of our 
industrial civilization. They are consequently of recent 
date; they have come upon us stealthily, like a thief in 
the night. Our institutions and especially our laws never 
contemplated the present situation. We are now seeking 
the legal means for arresting many of these evils, evils 
which often are not in the least due to the evil thought 
or intent of those who do the wrong, but solely to the cir- 
cumstances of the new industrial conditions of life. 

6. A tide of moral earnestness, however, is rising to 
meet this flood of evils. Religious organizations seek to 
reform the vicious, educate the children, help the suffer- 
ing and comfort the sorrowing. This work is largely with 
individuals. Social settlements make systematic inquiry 
as to the exact condition of the slums and the causes at 
work, and assist the residents to organize for effective re- 
forms, planting ideals and suggesting methods. Legisla- 
tors seek to remove causes and change conditions that pro- 
duce evil. The efforts now put forth in England and the 
United States are mighty witnesses to the rising tide of 
moral energy. Nor should we overlook the public con- 

198 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

demnation of evil in high places. Sweeping political 
changes follow evidences of political corruption, as in no 
previous age. Only where democracy exists — a de- 
mocracy where moral ideals are dominant — could such 
things occur. But this is equivalent to saying that only 
where the teachings of Jesus in regard to the kingdom 
of God have attained wide acceptance and deyotion can 
such things occur. 

IV. Resurvey. 

i. What did the first period of Christian history do for 
mankind ? 

2. Over what did Christianity triumph in the second 
period ? 

3. In the third period what did the Church accomplish 
in reference to barbarism, polygamy, slavery? 

4. What, in the fourth period, was done by the Church 
for the individual ? Against what did it begin to react ? 

5. What has been done in the fifth period in reference 
to the state, society, the Bible and missions? 

6. What are the blackest evils of our day? How do 
we compare with preceding ages? 

7. From what source do many of these modern evils 
arise ? 

8. What signs of encouragement may be noted ? 

9. What recent statesmen and politicians have risen to 
power through their advocacy in politics and application 
to society of the principles of the Kingdom? 

199 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

i. What is the chief cause of the evils of large cities? 

2. What is the chief cause of evil in the country cross- 
roads ? 

3. In what sort of towns is the influence of public opin- 
ion most powerfully felt ? 

4. For what classes of people is life in the large cities 
on the whole disadvantageous? 

5. Why do poor people in the cities often resist efforts 
to get them out into the country, on to the soil? 

6. Is it time to resist the tendency for young people to 
flock to the cities ? 

7. How can it be done? 

8. What is meant by socialism? by industrial democ- 
racy? How do they differ from the kingdom of God? 



200 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



LESSON XXIII 

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GROWTH OF THE 
KINGDOM 

Bibliography 

1. The Influence of Jesus, by Phillips Brooks, 1879. 
E. P. Dutton & Co. 

2. Divine Origin of Christianity, by R. S. Storrs, 1884. 
Randolph. 

3. Government or Human Evolution, by Edmond Kelly, 
1900. Longmans. 

4. Christianity and the Progress of Man, by W. D. Mac- 
kenzie, 1897. Revell. 

I. Preparatory Suggestions. 
Consider : — 

1. If people were more truly religious would there be 
more or fewer religions? 

2. If the world would heartily adopt a simple form of 
Christianity, would that ultimately result in the unifying 
of the world, bringing in "The parliament of man, the 
federation of the world"? 

II. Lesson Outline. 

The growing influence of Jesus. 

201 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



The law of the "survival of the fittest." 

Religion is increasingly important. 

Polytheism doomed to extinction. 

Christianity the religion of the dominant races. 

Protestantism the form of Christianity in the dominant 
races. 

No nations are wholly Christian. The world will be 
better when people are more religious. 



III. The Significance of the Growth of the King- 
dom of God. 

I. The one hopeful, because fundamental, element of 
modern life is the growing influence of Jesus. Not only 
is the number of those who openly profess allegiance to 
him growing, as we have seen, but they are increasingly 
gaining insight into the meaning and spirit of his life and 
teaching; they are more and more perfectly carrying out 
his instructions, living his life. The influence of Jesus 
also is more powerfully felt beyond the ranks of profess- 
ing Christians than ever before. When thousands of 
working men will hiss the parson and the Church, but 
applaud the name of Christ, when the meetings of an in- 
tense political campaign are frequently opened by prayer, 
is it not evident that Christ's influence is felt and that he 
himself is loved by multitudes who, for whatever reason 
or however mistaken, refuse to connect themselves with 
the Church? 

Let us now consider the significance of the moral, po- 
litical, and material development of Christendom, and es- 
pecially of the Protestant world. 

202 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

Science, popular education, democratic and constitu- 
tional government, material civilization, knowledge of 
many of nature's secrets, and ability to make use of her 
forces, medical and surgical skill, political supremacy, the 
faculty of self-government as well as of ruling other 
races, together with a growing comprehension and appli- 
cation of Christ's ethical and religious teachings — all 
these have appeared simultaneously in a remarkable de- 
gree among the Christian nations. What is the meaning 
and explanation of all these phenomena ? It is one of the 
fundamental assumptions of science that for every result 
there must be, not only a cause, but an adequate cause. 
This is true not only for such physical phenomena as the 
falling of an apple, the revolution of the planets, the 
movements of the stars, the myriad forms of fauna and 
flora, but for the great outstanding movements of history. 
The great onward movements of humanity, consuming 
centuries of time for even a partial result, are not caused 
by chance, are not the product of blind fortune, mere 
luck. As there can be no effect without the cause, so 
there can be no millennial progress without a meaning, 
without revealing a purpose. History, therefore, is full 
of meaning. The rise of one race and the downfall of 
another, the predominance of one style of civilization at 
the expense of another, the progressive growth of one 
religion and the decay of all others, — these are not mean- 
ingless or causeless events. 

2. The Creator and Upholder of the universe has his 
purpose in it, and he is surely though slowly bringing that 
purpose to pass. By the effects of men's ideas and ideals 
upon themselves; by their effects on their surroundings, 
on their social, commercial, and national life; by their 
effects on the health of their possessors, on the size and 

203 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



vigor of their bodies, on the keenness and accuracy of 
their minds ; — by all their varied effects, acting on their 
total conditions, external and internal, subjective and ob- 
jective, perfecting and developing their original endow- 
ments and capabilities, God is teaching his children which 
of their ideas and ideals are worthy; what kind of con- 
duct and customs are moral — in a word, what is really 
good and true and beautiful. Those whose eyes and minds 
and hearts are open to see and understand and believe 
and practise what he thus teaches, receive the blessings; 
they multiply in numbers and power. But this is the law 
of the survival of the fittest. And since God's providence 
extends not only to ancient nations and races, since the 
special call of special nations to special work is not a 
thing of the past alone, but also of the present, it is the 
duty of those who would comprehend the meaning of the 
universe, who would know the purposes of God, to study 
not only physical nature and its immutable because divine 
laws, not only human nature and its innate consciousness 
of truth and of moral law, but also the grand movements 
of history, and especially of modern history, in which we 
are playing a part. It is the duty of the wise both to 
recognize the facts and to comprehend their meaning. 

3. If, then, we apply this principle of the survival of 
the fittest to the facts brought out in the previous lessons, 
we may make the following assertions with scientific ac- 
curacy and certainty : — 

(a) Religion has an increasingly important place in the 
history and development of the human race. It is a factor 
of the utmost importance in determining the moral, the 
intellectual, the material, and the political status of the 
nations. In view of the nature of religion, this is what 
we might expect, and, as a matter of fact, we find it to 

204 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

be so historically. Never did true religion have so power- 
ful a hold on the human mind as to-day; never has ethical 
truth and belief in God, the Creator and Upholder of the 
universe, the Maker of man, the Father and Saviour of 
sinful men, had such molding force in society as in mod- 
ern days. Never before have the demands for justice, 
and for equality of opportunity for all the classes of so- 
ciety, been so clearly made and admitted by all. Belief 
in, and action according to, ethical religion, is a more 
potent factor in the entire social development of man now 
proceeding than ever before, and is increasingly operative. 

(b) All forms of polytheism are doomed to extinction. 
At one time polytheism was the belief of all the nations 
of the world. But the extent of its rule has been con- 
stantly diminishing. To-day there is no polytheistic self- 
governing nation on the face of the globe. The reason is 
apparent. Polytheism is the mother of superstition and 
ignorance, of which in turn it is the product. It does 
not stimulate education, thought, or individual character. 
In a word, the real reason why polytheism is dying out is 
because it is not fitted to survive. It is not the truth, 
nor does it beget love of the truth. Polytheism is unable, 
therefore, to give that solidity or unity to a nation which 
shall enable it to govern itself in righteousness, and all its 
classes with impartiality, or to meet and conquer the foe, 
whether external or internal. The belief in polytheism 
which remains to this day in such countries as China is 
one important cause of the misrule and inherent weakness 
of that great nation. 

(c) Christianity is the religion of the dominant nations 
of the earth. Nor is it rash to prophesy that in due time 
it will be the only religion in the world. This is not 
equivalent to saying that all non-Christian countries will 

205 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



become tributaries to Christian nations, but only that non- 
Christian countries will in the course of time become 
Christian. As Rome could not resist either the logic or 
the noble lives of preachers and believers, so it will be in 
India, and even in China. 

4. The progress in material civilization, in numbers, in 
general intelligence, in commerce, in national wealth, in 
political power, and in general prosperity, is found to 
belong, in its highest measure, to those nations which 
have pressed onward in their interpretation of Christ's 
teachings; who have not bound themselves to the limited 
religious attainments of their ancestors, either in theo- 
logical views, religious customs, or church organizations, 
but who have pressed onward in their Christian liberty to 
a profounder comprehension of the teachings of Jesus, and 
to a fuller application of those principles to the needs of 
modern society. In other words, they are found to belong, 
in the highest degree, not to Roman Catholic or to Greek, 
but to Protestant countries ; not to Spain or Italy or Aus- 
tria, in which countries, for hundreds of years, the Bible 
has been a forbidden book, freedom of conscience denied, 
and the Inquisition has flourished, but rather to Germany 
and England and the United States, in which countries 
the Bible has been the most honored and read and studied 
of all the books ever produced, where each man has been 
free to study and interpret the truth, whether of the Bible 
or of nature, according to the measure of the ability his 
Maker has given to him. 

5. It is no accident of history that, since Northern Eu- 
rope broke away from the Roman Church at the time of 
the Reformation, material, mental, and spiritual civiliza- 
tion, and thus national growth and national prosperity, 
Viave found their most favored home in Protestant lands. 

206 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

It is no accident that truer comprehension of Christ's 
teaching, greater love for the truth, greater insistence on 
character, and greater zeal in doing the work of the Sa- 
maritan, should go hand in hand with the marvelous 
growth and the unprecedented blessings that the Ruler of 
the universe is bestowing on the Protestant nations. It 
cannot be an accident, but rather is a matter of profound 
significance, that the leading powers of Christendom are 
no longer Roman Catholic Italy or Spain or France, as 
in former generations, but Protestant Germany and Eng- 
land and the United States. When the New World was 
discovered, Spain and France were far ahead of the rest 
of the nations in civilization and power and size. They 
ruled Europe. They conquered the New World. They 
planted their religion by force among the natives in South 
America. But these Roman Catholic nations have now 
lost their predominance, both in Europe and in Amer- 
ica. The new nations in South America, which have 
grown from their conquests and which adopted their 
religion, have proved comparatively weak. What can 
be the cause of this? It can be none other than 
the nature of their interpretation of Christianity. They 
spurned the Bible, hindered popular education, denied 
and rejected religious freedom, upheld a hierarchical 
Church, persecuted other faiths, laid no emphasis on per- 
sonal faith in and devotion to Christ alone, and thus en- 
couraged ignorance and superstition and mere traditional 
religion. It was an inevitable result that the people of 
such countries could not develop so well in self-control 
and self-government and general civilization; it was con- 
sequently inevitable that they could not establish success- 
ful colonies, or steady, national, free government, or even 
keep the lead they already held among the nations of 

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OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



Europe. They fell behind, because, more than others, they 
failed to see or obey the laws of God which govern the 
rise and fall of the nations, because they failed to take 
the new light that came into the world with the Refor- 
mation. 

6. It is important to bear in mind the fact that no na- 
tion is to-day Christian. Although some claim the name, 
yet when their acts are compared with the teaching of 
Jesus who would admit the claim? The United States 
and England probably have a larger proportion of their 
population who are earnest followers of Christ than any 
other country of Christendom, yet even in these countries, 
the church-members constitute only a minority of the 
people. The government is sometimes in the hands of 
notoriously unscrupulous and self-seeking men. 

7. If God's blessings have come in so large measure to 
people only partially following his will, what may we not 
expect when every adult man and woman shall have be- 
come a sincere follower of Jesus, so that the conduct both 
of private individuals and of officials of the government 
shall proceed on Christian principles? There will be no 
need then for police or criminal laws, for judges or pris- 
ons, and no need for armies. Drunkenness will cease, dis- 
ease will be largely exterminated. Not only sin but sor- 
row and pain will be all but conquered. What an epoch 
that will be, when the kingdom of Jesus shall be fully 
established ! 

IV. Resurvey. 

1. What is the most hopeful element in modern life? 

2. Is there progress in the course of history? 

3. What is the meaning of that progress? 

208 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

4. Is the influence of religion on mankind declining or 
increasing? 

5. What is to be the fate of polytheism? 

6. What is the destiny of Christianity? 

7. In what modern countries has material civilization 
made the greatest progress? 

8. Why have Roman Catholic countries lost the lead- 
ership of Europe? 

9. Are any countries yet thoroughly Christian? 

10. Can you imagine what the world would be like if 
every individual were wholly Christian ? 

V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. Is Jesus King? or is Money King? May they both 
be king in their own spheres? 

2. Is the law of the survival of the fittest an atheistical 
doctrine ? 

3. What is the meaning of the phrase "ethical re- 
ligion" ? 

4. Is England's supremacy in India and Egypt due to 
her Christianity, or have they been acquired in an un- 
christian manner and spirit? 

5. What makes Anglo-Saxon colonies more permanent 
and successful than those of any other race? 



209 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



LESSON XXIV 
PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS 

Bibliography 

1. Church Federation, the Inter-Church Conference on 
Federation, New York, November 15-21, 1905. Revell Co. 

2. The Federation of the World, by Benjamin F. True- 
blood, 1899. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 

3. Publications of the Association for International 
Conciliation, New York City, 1907 and later. 

4. Internationalism, W. F. Crafts, 1908. International 
Reform Bureau. 

5. Publications of the International Reform Bureau. 

6. The Evangelization of the World in this Generation, 
1900, and other books, by J. R. Mott. Student Volunteer 
Movement. 

I. Preparatory Suggestions. 

1. Does the suggestion of the evangelization of the 
world appear to you to be a quixotic and impossible pro- 
gram? 

2. Would the realization of that vision be more won- 
derful than the condition of civilization already attained 
would have appeared five hundred or even one hundred 
years ago? 

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OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



3. With a thousand years, and the modern rate of prog- 
ress, what may be hoped for? 

II. Lesson Outline. 

Problems remaining for solution by men: — 

The Christianization of the individual. 

The enthronement of Christ in society. 

The federation of the churches. 

The moralizing of international relations. 

The evangelization of the world. 

The interrelations of science, history and religion. 

Prospects of the future. 

III. Problems and Prospects. 

Though the kingdom of God has been growing with the 
centuries and has brought great blessings to the human 
race, its work is not yet accomplished. We of this gen- 
eration have problems set for us to solve, in helping to 
establish the kingdom of God in our nation for the sake 
both of our own race and of the world. Let us inquire 
what are the special problems set for solution by the men 
of the present generation. 

1. The first problem for each person is with himself. 
This is a problem always new, and to be solved only by 
the individual himself. Until I make Jesus King in my 
own heart, until I understand, so far as I can, his teach- 
ing and love, his guidance, and am proud of his lordship 
and acknowledge his sovereignty, all other problems are 
without meaning. This then is the most important ques- 
tion one can ask himself, — Am I a sincere disciple of 
Jesus? My present and eternal welfare depends on 

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whether I love truth more than falsehood, mercy more 
than force, sincerity more than ceremony, righteousness 
r.iore than money; in a word, whether I put God at the 
center of my universe or my own little self. If Jesus is 
King in my heart then will my relations with my fellow 
men be true, kind and loving, and so far as my personal 
conduct goes, the kingdom of God shall prevail. 

2. The next problem that arises is to make Jesus King 
in society. How are the relations of men in business, in 
politics, in social affairs, to be brought into conformity 
with the spirit of Jesus? This is no easy task. If all 
men were agreed to do this it might not be so difficult; 
but they are not; many and strong forces of selfishness, 
vice, and corruption are opposed to making Jesus King. 
Men live in communities whose relations and much of 
whose conduct are determined by laws. To make Jesus 
King, then, means to make laws and to produce forms of 
government, legislative and executive, the aim and result 
of which shall be to carry out righteous laws righteously. 
And this means that Christianity must be carried into 
politics and business, into railways and legislatures, into 
banks, factories, mines and every other form of organized 
human activity. 

But how can this be done? By the Christian ballot 
united on every moral issue. The great problem before 
the churches of America and England to-day is how to 
unite the Christian forces so as to make Jesus King in 
local and national legislatures. The nations need Chris- 
tian laws executed by Christian magistrates. The forces 
are sufficient if united. And this leads to the next prob- 
lem which must first be solved. 

3. The more immediate problem confronting the 
churches of Protestant lands is the development of such 

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OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



an effective union of all Christians that they may work 
unitedly for the enthronement of Jesus in the social and 
national life. It is not enough that individuals become 
Christian and join some local church. The churches 
must combine in some such large way that the total force 
making for righteousness, equity, justice and truth in all 
the relations of men may be made to prevail over selfish 
and unsocial methods. How is this to be done ? 

(a) Not by any organic union of churches which sup- 
presses individual freedom of belief or of worship. His- 
tory has taught the lesson so clearly that this mistake 
ought not to be repeated. 

(b) Not by an attempt to dissolve the present church 
organizations and to initiate a new one. This would, as 
history teaches, but add one more denomination to the 
present sufficiently numerous and diversified list. 

(c) But by federation can it be done, as the English 
Free Churches are proving, allowing each component body 
to have its own organization and peculiarities, but uniting 
all for common action when the kingship of Jesus is in 
question. 

(d) As we have already seen, over thirty Protestant de- 
nominations of the United States have recently estab- 
lished a federated organization and held their first quad- 
rennial meeting (Dec. 1908). This is a good beginning. 
It is now the duty and privilege of this great body of pro- 
fessed Christians to back up the splendid program then 
formulated, uniting heads and hearts and votes to realize 
the ideal, for mere federation of ecclesiastical organisms 
will be powerless unless we have something more, viz., 
intelligent and interested and free activity of all the 
members. 

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GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

The churches of Protestant lands cannot and should 
not attempt to send their members to the polls to vote 
like automata, or like ignorant men, as is possible where 
external authority is exercised as by the Roman Catholic 
or Mormon hierarchies. The authority of the federated 
churches should never be more than that of competent 
leadership and advice ; the rank and file of Christian mem- 
bership should be intelligent and alert to the interests 
at stake and act unitedly from a regard for principles and 
not as the result of external authority. 

4. The next problem will find its solution if the preced- 
ing problem has been effectively solved, and when ef- 
ficient and united activity of all Christian men has been 
attained. This great task has already made some progress, 
viz., making Christ King in international relations. There 
is no more bitter shame coming to nations calling them- 
selves Christian, millions of whose members are indeed 
fairly earnest Christians, than the utterly unchristian re- 
lations of the governments to which they are subject. 
The spirit they manifest toward each other and the fre- 
quent bloody wars they have waged against each other 
show how largely unchristian Christendom is. And espe- 
cially is their unchristian and absolutely unrighteous con- 
duct manifest in their relations to the weaker nations and 
tribes whose lands they have plundered and whose pop- 
ulations they have ruthlessly oppressed and murdered. 

Not till Christ is King in all relations will the will of 
God be done on earth as it is in heaven. For this great 
work must the Church of the living God prepare itself. 
This problem could be solved and this work accomplished 
should Christian men unite, take the lead, make Jesus 
King in their own nations, and then insist that grasping 
and selfish men should not be allowed to disturb the 

215 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



friendly relations of the nations, but that each nation 
should regard and preserve the interests of other nations 
even as its own. This is a problem that the churches 
must attack if they are to be thoroughgoing in their obe- 
dience to Christ. 

5. The evangelization of the world is an enterprise that 
the Protestant Christians of England and America have 
been attacking with ever increasing energy and success. 
But not until a united Church girds itself for the task 
and with a zeal not yet manifested, and not until Jesus 
has been made King in Christian lands and in their gov- 
ernments to an extent not yet realized, can we expect 
great success in the world-wide effort. The heathenish 
deeds of Christian nations and men from Christian lands 
and the indifference of so-called Christian churches to 
world-wide evangelization constitute the greatest obstacle 
to the speedy solution of this enormous problem. It is 
a task for our day and generation. 

6. A problem of great importance, on the right solu- 
tion of which the future of Christianity will largely de- 
pend, is the relations to be maintained between science, 
history and religion. There is danger on the one hand of 
resisting all changes of thought or practise demanded in 
the interests of exact science and accurate history, and on 
the other hand there is danger of losing all vital religion 
by going to the extremes of scientific radicalism and his- 
torical agnosticism. True religious life is in conflict with 
no facts of nature or of history. If any asserted fact of 
nature or of history is after careful investigation proved 
to be true, religion has really nothing to fear from it, 
though for a time it may seem in danger. Religion was 
not shaken when it was finally proved that the earth is 
round and does move and that the sun is the center of 

216 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 



our solar system, although for a time many thought that 
such admissions would destroy Christianity altogether. 
And so we can say with confidence, no fact discovered 
by science or history can ever bring real injury to religion. 
The Christian should hold an open and unbiased mind to 
all scientific and historical truth as he should to all re- 
ligious truth. 

7. One final consideration. As our God is a living God 
and the God of living, growing human beings, we may 
expect new thoughts and new methods to come forth from 
time to time. The history of Christianity shows that this 
has been the case in the past. Though earnest efforts 
have been made to hold doctrines and organizations to 
the old forms, it has proved absolutely impossible to do 
so. Growth is the law of the Kingdom as it is of mind. 
The large general lesson taught by this rapid study of 
the growth of the kingdom of God is that no age should 
count itself as having attained, but should press onward 
to the new which God is ready to reveal to those of open 
minds and ready wills. 

What about the prospects? They are as bright as are 
the promises of God. Whether our generation shall solve 
all these problems is not for us to know, but we know 
that in God's own time they will be solved, and that it 
is our glorious privilege to have a part in this work. The 
signs of the times are full of promise for rapid develop- 
ment in these directions. The age of divisive individual- 
ism in Christian thought and life has passed. United 
thought and effort are recognized as needed. Christians 
are becoming conscious of their profound agreement in 
fundamentals, and of the trivial character of many of 
the matters on which they are divided. Union and fed- 
eration are not only in the air, but have already made 

217 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



practical beginnings. We of the rising generation are to 
carry them forward by intelligent study and mutual un- 
derstanding and esteem and united activity. This is an 
age of hope, because an age in which Christ is ruling as 
never before. 

Is the kingdom of God growing? Who can doubt it? 
W T ho that has eyes to see and a mind to perceive can fail 
to understand the answer of history? Yes, the kingdom 
of heaven is growing, and never so fast as in recent dec- 
ades. Whoever wishes may clearly see that, through all 
history, "one eternal purpose runs," that the influence of 
Jesus is spreading in every land and on every shore; 
that the Sun of Righteousness has arisen on this dark 
world, to set no more; and that this kingdom of God, of 
love, of truth, of heaven, of Jesus, shall ever more pro- 
gress "with the process of the suns." 

As we look back over the course of our thought thus 
far, as we reflect on the incalculable blessings that have 
come through Christ and his teachings, not only to the 
poor, the afflicted, the diseased and sorrowing, but to all 
society, even to the noblest and strongest and most illus- 
trious and intellectual, — blessings that have come by the 
gift of lofty ideals, graces of character, and noble am- 
bitions, secured through Christ and his Church, — we do 
not wonder that all Christians and all Christendom unite 
in singing the praises of him who was at once Son of God 
and Son of man. Why is it that Christianity alone of 
all religions of the earth is preeminently a religion of 
song and praise, does some one ask? It is solely because 
of what Christ is and does to-day for all who know and 
love and obey him. And those who know him the best, 
love him the most passionately, and sing his praises most 
sincerely. 

218 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

In Christendom the loftiest, most soul-stirring music is 
Christian. No such songs of devotion and love as are 
rising to Christ from all lands are offered to scientists or 
poets or philosophers, or philanthropists or religious lead- 
ers, much less to military heroes, or tyrants or infidels. 
But throughout the world, wherever those are found who 
read and love the Bible, of whatever race or tongue, the 
human heart spontaneously sings its thanks and prayers 
and praises. It would almost seem as though the power 
of human language and human song had been exhausted 
in men's efforts to find appropriate strains with which to 
offer their worship to Him who gave himself to the world, 
that the world through him might know the surpassing 
love of God, in calling all men through his only begotten 
Son to become children of the living God. As we think 
of the kingdom of the lowly Jesus, now at last, after 
two thousand years of waiting, only just beginning to es- 
tablish throughout the world its benign reign; as we 
strive to appreciate al! it is and does for those who be- 
come his willing and joyful subjects; and as we realize 
the fact that Jesus does in truth satisfy the hunger of 
the human soul to know its own origin and destiny, and 
its relations to the great Unknown who is in and over 
all this marvelous universe; and as we see that, through 
Jesus, finite men do actually come to know in a real way 
the heart of the Infinite, and to have daily communion 
with him, we do not wonder that the followers of Jesus 
unite in all lands and in every tongue to sing the glorious 
anthem : — 

"Jesus shall reign where'er the sun 
Does his successive journeys run, 
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore 
Till moons shall wax and wane no more. 
219 



OUTLINE STUDIES OF THE 



For him shall endless prayer be made, 
And praises throng to crown his head; 
His name, like sweet perfume, shall rise 
With every morning sacrifice. 

People and realms of every tongue 
Dwell on his love with sweetest song, 
And infant voices shall proclaim 
Their early blessings on his name. 

Blessings abound where'er he reigns; 
The prisoner leaps to lose his chains, 
The weary find eternal rest, 
And all the sons of want are blest. 

Let every creature rise, and bring 
Peculiar honors to our King, 
Angels descend with songs again, 
And earth repeat the loud Amen!" 

IV. Resurvey. 

i. What is the first and most important problem that 
meets each individual? 

2. What is the second great problem ? 

3. How can the individual make his Christian will most 
effective in society ? 

4. Is an organic union of churches necessary for unit- 
ing the moral forces of the churches? 

5. What is meant by federation of the churches? For 
what purposes has it been effected? 

220 



GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

6. Ought international relations to be made Christian? 
Can it be done? 

7. What is the chief obstacle in the way of the evan- 
gelization of the world ? 

8. What should be the attitude of the Christian mind 
toward new truth? 

9. Is the prospect for the future bright or dark? 

10. Why is singing natural in the hearts and mouths of 
Christians ? 

V. Topics for Class Discussion. 

1. What are the most vital and aggressive forces in 
modern life tending toward the realization of the king- 
dom of God? 

2. What are the greatest forces of evil resisting the 
powers of good? 

3. Is it certain that good will ultimately, perfectly tri- 
umph over evil? 

4. What insures that certainty ? 



221 



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